The value of beloved Intellectual Property has never been greater, but how to legislate, track, and benefit from its use has never been more complex. As User Generated Content continues to prosper, and platforms like Roblox and UEFN continue to break down barriers to entry for aspiring creators, the need (and opportunity) for modern Intellectual Property infrastructure grows.

In this episode of Bits of Signum, Angela is joined by guest co-host Nick Grous, Portfolio Manager at ARK Invest responsible for the gaming sector, as they welcome Founder and CEO of Spaceport, Le Zhang, to the show to discuss how Spaceport is tackling IP rights and usage across digital platforms, utilizing web3 technologies to build the infrastructure of the future. The vision of Spaceport is to become the IP licensing layer of the metaverse, not just for UGC platforms but for all gaming applications, all digital applications and even real world applications! 

Le Zhang is a serial tech entrepreneur and angel investor. He is currently Founder and CEO of Spaceport, a web3 company building scalable IP licensing infrastructure for gaming and user-generated content (UGC) economies. Previously, Le was Founder & CEO of Squadle (acquired), the AI automation platform used by major brands like McDonald’s, 7-Eleven, and Hyatt Hotels.

During their discussion, Angela, Nick, and Le go into Spaceport’s founding and how their licensing products work, before diving into how brands, creators, and consumers can all benefit from IP equally and legally, who the first adopters have and will continue to be, how digital products may soon outpace physical products, and much more.

Signum Growth Thesis: IP rights will eventually matter. Currently, we are in a period of early experimentation, and we are seeing a lot of cool AI creations! We are also in a sea of IP rights infringements. The industries of video games and entertainment depend heavily on rights, which generate a lot of value - $350 billion referenced by Le Zhang in the podcast. We believe that IP rights protection will be baked into the technology at some point in the future. Blockchain technology is uniquely suited to solve this problem facing the $350 billion IP rights market. We are deep in the Polkadot ecosystem so please ask us about this too. Bottom line: if we thought that Cambridge Analytica was scary, AI will take the level of fake news and inauthenticity to a national security threat level. Why wouldn’t we seek a cryptographic backing of truly authentic digital IP?

Learn more about Spaceport

Follow Le: LinkedIn | Twitter

Signum Growth invests and advises at the intersection of mass market culture and new economies that are bubbling up in new digital communities. We believe that emerging technologies will continue to be born in video games and that ‘gaming’ will reach an increasingly broader swath of people, until it is simply known as entertainment. The firm focuses on creators and developers who are moving to the front of the line, where they will garner a greater slice of value creation. Areas of expertise include video games, entertainment, and emerging technologies like blockchain and AI. Most recently, the firm has focused on UGC (user generated content) platforms and creators. Signum Growth is comprised of Signum Growth Capital, a FINRA-registered broker dealer, and Signum Growth Advisors, an investment advisor.

Angela Dalton, Signum Growth’s Founder/CEO, served in Tech/Media leadership roles and as a Managing Director at three firms - Guggenheim Securities, Evercore Partners, and UBS. At Evercore Partners, Angela was an initial investor and Co-Founder of Evercore Equities. Signum Growth acts as the Lead Advisor to ARK Invest, and Angela serves as the Co-Founder of the Women in Gaming Zoom (WIGZ), and recently served on the corporate board of FaZe Clan.

Follow Angela: LinkedIn | Twitter 
Follow Nick: LinkedIn | Twitter