Hiro Metaverse SPAC plans London IPO, eyes UK video games industry

(Reuters) - Hiro Metaverse Acquisitions said on Monday it plans to raise up to 115 million pounds ($154.38 million) by listing itself on the London Stock Exchange, as the blank-check company looks to tap into the video games and metaverse industries in the UK.

The special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) intends to focus on targets in the video games, e-sports, interactive streaming and metaverse technologies sectors, among others, with business operations in the United Kingdom, Europe or Israel.

SPACs raise money from stock markets to buy private firms, and help those businesses go public in a shorter duration and often stronger valuations.

The metaverse, where people can interact in online virtual worlds through headsets, is the latest buzzword in technology and business, with companies like Facebook and Microsoft betting that it will be a successor to the mobile internet.

"This region (UK and Europe) has talented entrepreneurs and brilliant creators who produce approximately one-third of all the video games content played worldwide," HMAI's Chairman Ian Livingstone said in a statement.

Despite various successful gaming IPOs in the UK and Europe, the region still only accounts for about 3% of the industry's global public market capitalisation, Livingstone added.

($1 = 0.7449 pounds)

(Reporting by Priyanshi Mandhan in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)