\n\t\t\t\t

Infinite Reality \u2014 a fast-moving company focused on AI, immersive technology and digital media \u2014 has agreed to acquire agentic AI firm Touchcast for $500 million in cash and stock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infinite Reality has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire\u00a0Touchcast<\/strong> in a deal that comes just a few weeks after Infinite Reality acquired Napster for $207 million. And Infinite Reality said the transaction agreement values the company at $15.5 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boca Raton, Florida-based Infinite Reality has been on an acquisition binge to assemble what used to be popularly known as the metaverse, a term coined by sci-fi author Neal Stephenson decades ago in his novel Snow Crash<\/em>. But after Meta entered this market, a lot of people became skeptical and metaverse is kind of a dirty word. Using the phrase immersive technology instead, Infinite Reality has been acquiring companies to build the metaverse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amish Shah, Infinite Reality\u2019s chief business officer, acknowledged in an interview with GamesBeat that the company no longer refers to itself as a metaverse company. There was too much hype associated with the word, which was coined by Neal Stephenson in Snow Crash, a 1992 sci-fi novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe difference here is we\u2019ve been around with seasoned entrepreneurs building towards what\u2019s happening today,\u201d said Shah. \u201cA lot of others are just coming out of blue, raising valuations where you don\u2019t know what their vision is, what their product is, what their team is. I think the difference here is there is a story behind us. Our CEO Jon (Acunto) is a five-time entrepreneur. I\u2019ve had exits. And Edo (Segal) is a five-time exit entrepreneur. It\u2019s a great question and we get it all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Touchcast lets you use generative AI to create a web store with a human-like avatar guide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll three of us, unfortunately, are in our 50s. We\u2019re not in our 20s. We\u2019ve made a lot of mistakes, we\u2019ve learned a lot,\u201d Shah said. \u201cWe\u2019ve become aligned, and this is why I think the story is so compelling, and the AI market is just insane right now. There\u2019s no right answer, but we didn\u2019t go down a traditional path. Valuations are what investors believe. We have done due diligence. For eight months, we looked at the marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the teams met at the Web Summit last year and then started talking. And They figured out the deal in the subsequent months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Edo Segal, Touchcast founder and CEO, said in an interview that this is the fifth company he has sold in the AI space, and he said Touchcast\u2019s powerful agentic AI platform, known as\u00a0Mentorverse, generates an infinite universe of specialized AI mentors who engage in natural and face-to-face video conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He showed me a demo of the tech, which has some time delays but enables pretty good human avatars who can hold conversations with players or users, depending on the app that they are offering help for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, unlike traditional chatbots or static web experiences, Touchcast can consistent personalities with deep domain expertise to deliver genuinely helpful guidance through natural, multimodal interactions. The integration of Touchcast\u2019s technology across Infinite Reality\u2019s portfolio of products and services will enable iR customers to tap AI agents for a number of tasks that drive user engagement, customer support, and sales.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, within Napster (recently acquired by iR), Touchcast tech will enable subscribers to easily generate immersive social listening spaces and leverage knowledgeable AI agents for music playlisting, community management, and\u00a0 music trivia, among other engaging features. For\u00a0iR Enterprise\u00a0and\u00a0iR Studio\u00a0customers, the Touchcast toolkit empowers Fortune 500 brands, small and medium-size companies, and creators with knowledgeable, trained, and on-brand AI agents designed to power global and scalable sales and customer service functions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A number of people might blink their eyes or shake their heads when they learn that Infinite Reality, a company with 300 or so employees, is worth $15.5 billion. I asked Shah how the company can convince people that its efforts are real. When the company raised $3 billion at a valuation of $12.5 billion in January, some tech experts were skeptical as Infinite Reality did not reveal the investor that made it possible. Shah noted that the investor was not seeking fame, but he said it would likely become evident as more announcements happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
A Touchcase human avatar is your mentor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Infinite Reality has, however, revealed its roster of other investors and shareholders including RSE Ventures, Liberty Media, Lux Capital, Lerer Hippeau, Ruttenberg Gordon Investments, Gross Labs Investments, Sterling Select (Sterling Equities), MGM, T-Mobile Ventures, Courtside VC, Exor, Terracap, Live Nation, Harvard Investment Group, as well as notable individuals such as Producer\/DJ Steve Aoki, Grammy Award-winning band Imagine Dragons, and NBA All Star Rudy Gobert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deals included acquisitions of Obsess, Stakes, Drone Racing, Ethereal and Action Face. It also bought a majority stake in Super League Gaming. Back in January, Infinite Reality said it raised $3 billion at a valuation of $12.25 billion. And in 2024, the company raised $350 million and bought Landvault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Touchcast, built on OpenAI and delivered on Microsoft Azure via a $50 million strategic partnership, provides a suite of groundbreaking AI delivery systems that dramatically improve response times for AI interaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For businesses, this means the ability to deliver seamless, human-like experiences while boosting efficiency and reducing costs\u2014a vital edge in today\u2019s competitive digital landscape. Touchcast\u2019s platform is turning what once required entire teams and years of work into one-click solutions with multiple products ranging from AI mentors to transforming websites into interactive AI experiences, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Touchcast\u2019s enterprise-grade technology is SOC2 compliant with global scalability. The company holds 27 patents related to AI and interactive video technology, including systems for coordinated presentations, video conferencing enhancements, and intelligent virtual assistant systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Touchcast\u2019s AI mentors interact like humans, not chatbots, work together as a team of specialized agents to build on each other\u2019s expertise and solve complex challenges, and deliver immediate ROI by elevating the online experience. Led by seasoned entrepreneurs and trusted by top global enterprises across automotive, home improvement, management consulting, and education categories, Touchcast is transforming how businesses adopt AI by making these advanced capabilities accessible to anyone, regardless of technical expertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200b\u201dAgentic AI is a big part of how consumers and businesses will interact with the web in the future,\u201d said John Acunto, CEO of Infinite Reality, in a statement.\u00a0 \u201cThe Touchcast technology has immediate\u00a0 applications across our entire business portfolio and will no doubt provide our customers with instant benefits \u2013 whether those customers are Napster subscribers and artists, global Fortune 500 brands, or small businesses.\u00a0 What Edo Segal and his team have developed at Touchcast will no doubt accelerate Infinite Reality\u2019s mission to lead a transition to a more immersive, personalized and conversational web.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Touchcast is selling for $500 million.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Segal is a serial entrepreneur and AI pioneer who has spent over two decades building companies at the intersection of artificial intelligence and human communication. Segal is leading breakthrough innovations in how people access and share expertise through AI, fundamentally reimagining human-AI collaboration. Prior to Touchcast, he founded and successfully sold multiple companies including Relegence (acquired by AOL), Brainboost (acquired by Answers.com), and Screencaster (acquired by Livestream), consistently positioning himself at the forefront of technological transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJoining forces with Infinite Reality represents the ideal next chapter for Touchcast,\u201d said Segal. \u201cFrom day one, our mission has been to humanize AI\u2014 moving beyond chatbots to create intelligent, emotionally resonant experiences that feel intuitive and alive. iR not only shares that belief and has the platform to bring our technology to scale across industries and audiences, but together we can empower a new generation of creators and businesses to deliver expertise, storytelling, and service in ways that were unimaginable until now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith LLMs, with this big breakthrough, it facilitates so many different things for us,\u201d said Segal. \u201cWe\u2019re entering the state where the world models really allow us to create what used to require a tremendous amount of effort and time, which is really where these projects went to die. It now does it automatically.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the company can take any website, any commerce website, and automatically create an entire store that\u2019s a full 3D experience, literally with one click. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He did a demo of his Mentorverse doing just that, using agentic AI to create a new website for VentureBeat in just a quick minute or so. It had its own agent, a human-like greeter, and then displayed stories on the site in 3D. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAgentic AI automatically created what you\u2019re seeing on the screen, doing what used to take a year of work and cost a million dollars to do,\u201d Segal said. \u201cNow this is a click away and it could happen for any website.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had him switch to GamesBeat and it worked fine. There were some glitches, but it all happened in a minute or so. He also showed a more polished demo of a website for Imperial College, where professors had their own virtual twins who could talk with students 24\/7. Touchcast has raised $60 million to date, and one of its biggest customers was Accenture. A year ago, it launched a strategic deal with Microsoft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJoining with IR is the next big chapter at a time where AI is exploding,\u201d said Segal. \u201cWe feel like we have a few years headstart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Touchcast itself has 70 employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe acquisition of Touchcast marks our largest transaction thus far and represents a perfect continuation of our strategic growth trajectory, building on the momentum from the iconic Napster acquisition and recent\u00a0$3 billion funding round,\u201d said Shah. \u201cThe addition of Touchcast\u2019s agentic AI technology serves as a powerful building block for our platform as we look to provide our customers with the tools they need to succeed in the modern AI-powered era.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
\n
**GB Daily<\/strong><\/p>\n**
**Stay in the know! Get the latest news in your inbox daily<\/p>\n**
**Read our Privacy Policy<\/p>\n**
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Source link <\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Infinite Reality \u2014 a fast-moving company focused on AI, immersive technology and digital media \u2014 has agreed to acquire agentic AI firm Touchcast for $500 million in cash and stock. Infinite Reality has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire\u00a0Touchcast in a deal that comes just a few weeks after Infinite Reality acquired Napster for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-automation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ir.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Touchcast lets you use generative AI to create a web store with a human-like avatar guide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll three of us, unfortunately, are in our 50s. We\u2019re not in our 20s. We\u2019ve made a lot of mistakes, we\u2019ve learned a lot,\u201d Shah said. \u201cWe\u2019ve become aligned, and this is why I think the story is so compelling, and the AI market is just insane right now. There\u2019s no right answer, but we didn\u2019t go down a traditional path. Valuations are what investors believe. We have done due diligence. For eight months, we looked at the marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the teams met at the Web Summit last year and then started talking. And They figured out the deal in the subsequent months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Edo Segal, Touchcast founder and CEO, said in an interview that this is the fifth company he has sold in the AI space, and he said Touchcast\u2019s powerful agentic AI platform, known as\u00a0Mentorverse, generates an infinite universe of specialized AI mentors who engage in natural and face-to-face video conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He showed me a demo of the tech, which has some time delays but enables pretty good human avatars who can hold conversations with players or users, depending on the app that they are offering help for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, unlike traditional chatbots or static web experiences, Touchcast can consistent personalities with deep domain expertise to deliver genuinely helpful guidance through natural, multimodal interactions. The integration of Touchcast\u2019s technology across Infinite Reality\u2019s portfolio of products and services will enable iR customers to tap AI agents for a number of tasks that drive user engagement, customer support, and sales.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, within Napster (recently acquired by iR), Touchcast tech will enable subscribers to easily generate immersive social listening spaces and leverage knowledgeable AI agents for music playlisting, community management, and\u00a0 music trivia, among other engaging features. For\u00a0iR Enterprise\u00a0and\u00a0iR Studio\u00a0customers, the Touchcast toolkit empowers Fortune 500 brands, small and medium-size companies, and creators with knowledgeable, trained, and on-brand AI agents designed to power global and scalable sales and customer service functions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A number of people might blink their eyes or shake their heads when they learn that Infinite Reality, a company with 300 or so employees, is worth $15.5 billion. I asked Shah how the company can convince people that its efforts are real. When the company raised $3 billion at a valuation of $12.5 billion in January, some tech experts were skeptical as Infinite Reality did not reveal the investor that made it possible. Shah noted that the investor was not seeking fame, but he said it would likely become evident as more announcements happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
A Touchcase human avatar is your mentor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Infinite Reality has, however, revealed its roster of other investors and shareholders including RSE Ventures, Liberty Media, Lux Capital, Lerer Hippeau, Ruttenberg Gordon Investments, Gross Labs Investments, Sterling Select (Sterling Equities), MGM, T-Mobile Ventures, Courtside VC, Exor, Terracap, Live Nation, Harvard Investment Group, as well as notable individuals such as Producer\/DJ Steve Aoki, Grammy Award-winning band Imagine Dragons, and NBA All Star Rudy Gobert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deals included acquisitions of Obsess, Stakes, Drone Racing, Ethereal and Action Face. It also bought a majority stake in Super League Gaming. Back in January, Infinite Reality said it raised $3 billion at a valuation of $12.25 billion. And in 2024, the company raised $350 million and bought Landvault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Touchcast, built on OpenAI and delivered on Microsoft Azure via a $50 million strategic partnership, provides a suite of groundbreaking AI delivery systems that dramatically improve response times for AI interaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For businesses, this means the ability to deliver seamless, human-like experiences while boosting efficiency and reducing costs\u2014a vital edge in today\u2019s competitive digital landscape. Touchcast\u2019s platform is turning what once required entire teams and years of work into one-click solutions with multiple products ranging from AI mentors to transforming websites into interactive AI experiences, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Touchcast\u2019s enterprise-grade technology is SOC2 compliant with global scalability. The company holds 27 patents related to AI and interactive video technology, including systems for coordinated presentations, video conferencing enhancements, and intelligent virtual assistant systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Touchcast\u2019s AI mentors interact like humans, not chatbots, work together as a team of specialized agents to build on each other\u2019s expertise and solve complex challenges, and deliver immediate ROI by elevating the online experience. Led by seasoned entrepreneurs and trusted by top global enterprises across automotive, home improvement, management consulting, and education categories, Touchcast is transforming how businesses adopt AI by making these advanced capabilities accessible to anyone, regardless of technical expertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200b\u201dAgentic AI is a big part of how consumers and businesses will interact with the web in the future,\u201d said John Acunto, CEO of Infinite Reality, in a statement.\u00a0 \u201cThe Touchcast technology has immediate\u00a0 applications across our entire business portfolio and will no doubt provide our customers with instant benefits \u2013 whether those customers are Napster subscribers and artists, global Fortune 500 brands, or small businesses.\u00a0 What Edo Segal and his team have developed at Touchcast will no doubt accelerate Infinite Reality\u2019s mission to lead a transition to a more immersive, personalized and conversational web.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Touchcast is selling for $500 million.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Segal is a serial entrepreneur and AI pioneer who has spent over two decades building companies at the intersection of artificial intelligence and human communication. Segal is leading breakthrough innovations in how people access and share expertise through AI, fundamentally reimagining human-AI collaboration. Prior to Touchcast, he founded and successfully sold multiple companies including Relegence (acquired by AOL), Brainboost (acquired by Answers.com), and Screencaster (acquired by Livestream), consistently positioning himself at the forefront of technological transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJoining forces with Infinite Reality represents the ideal next chapter for Touchcast,\u201d said Segal. \u201cFrom day one, our mission has been to humanize AI\u2014 moving beyond chatbots to create intelligent, emotionally resonant experiences that feel intuitive and alive. iR not only shares that belief and has the platform to bring our technology to scale across industries and audiences, but together we can empower a new generation of creators and businesses to deliver expertise, storytelling, and service in ways that were unimaginable until now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith LLMs, with this big breakthrough, it facilitates so many different things for us,\u201d said Segal. \u201cWe\u2019re entering the state where the world models really allow us to create what used to require a tremendous amount of effort and time, which is really where these projects went to die. It now does it automatically.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the company can take any website, any commerce website, and automatically create an entire store that\u2019s a full 3D experience, literally with one click. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He did a demo of his Mentorverse doing just that, using agentic AI to create a new website for VentureBeat in just a quick minute or so. It had its own agent, a human-like greeter, and then displayed stories on the site in 3D. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAgentic AI automatically created what you\u2019re seeing on the screen, doing what used to take a year of work and cost a million dollars to do,\u201d Segal said. \u201cNow this is a click away and it could happen for any website.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had him switch to GamesBeat and it worked fine. There were some glitches, but it all happened in a minute or so. He also showed a more polished demo of a website for Imperial College, where professors had their own virtual twins who could talk with students 24\/7. Touchcast has raised $60 million to date, and one of its biggest customers was Accenture. A year ago, it launched a strategic deal with Microsoft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJoining with IR is the next big chapter at a time where AI is exploding,\u201d said Segal. \u201cWe feel like we have a few years headstart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Touchcast itself has 70 employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe acquisition of Touchcast marks our largest transaction thus far and represents a perfect continuation of our strategic growth trajectory, building on the momentum from the iconic Napster acquisition and recent\u00a0$3 billion funding round,\u201d said Shah. \u201cThe addition of Touchcast\u2019s agentic AI technology serves as a powerful building block for our platform as we look to provide our customers with the tools they need to succeed in the modern AI-powered era.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
\n
**GB Daily<\/strong><\/p>\n**
**Stay in the know! Get the latest news in your inbox daily<\/p>\n**
**Read our Privacy Policy<\/p>\n**
**\n\t\t\t\t\tThanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n**
An error occured.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n
\r\n
Source link <\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Infinite Reality \u2014 a fast-moving company focused on AI, immersive technology and digital media \u2014 has agreed to acquire agentic AI firm Touchcast for $500 million in cash and stock. Infinite Reality has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire\u00a0Touchcast in a deal that comes just a few weeks after Infinite Reality acquired Napster for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-automation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ir.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/violethoward.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}