The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

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Startup raises $540M..wants to build virtual worlds i.e. the Matrix...

If we're living in a simulation, this UK startup probably built it
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/improbable-quest-to-build-the-matrix?

Improbable has yet to reach the profile of British startups like the AI company DeepMind (now a division of Google), but its ambitions are just as lofty. It has raised more than $540 million (£421m) in funding from venture-capital firms including SoftBank, Horizons Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. It has partnered with Google worldwide, and counts the UK and US defence departments among its clients. In May 2017, the company joined the select few British tech startups valued at over $1billion.

Improbable’s platform, SpatialOS, is designed to let anyone build massive agent-based simulations, running in the cloud: imagine Minecraft with thousands of players in the same space, or researchers creating simulated cities to model the behaviour of millions. Its ultimate goal: to create totally immersive, persistent virtual worlds, and in doing so, change how we make decisions.