Cathie Wood has taken an equity position in Cityverse, a startup civic platform that will connect the community through information, ideas, and experiences.
Wood is the Founder, CEO, and CIO of ARK Invest, an investment management firm founded in 2014. ARK’s investment strategies focus on disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, energy storage, robotics, DNA sequencing, and blockchain technology.
Wood’s passion for innovation is part of what brought her to St Petersburg. She sees Cityverse as a positive disruptor for communities.
She says, “As our lives become more virtual and borderless, we need to bring our physical communities along too. Cityverse leverages the technology and concepts that have transformed the world and applies them locally in a way that can build connectivity and consensus in our cities.”
Cityverse will provide content creation tools to neighborhoods, schools, organizations, and individuals, and then distribute that content so that local information and ideas can flow freely throughout the community.
From that base of valuable content, Cityverse will build community on the civic platform with individual Homespaces, Createspaces, art & shopping districts, Idea Parks, and more.
Wood says, “I’ve always believed in backing founders who are at the forefront of innovation. With Cityverse, Joe is building an important foundation for the next generation of content creation and distribution.”
Wood’s funding joins investment from the Tampa Bay Rays and an anonymous investor in support of the platform. Cityverse currently has 6 team members and plans to launch in Q1 of 2023 in St. Petersburg.
(Original story published by Mark Parker in the St. Pete Catalyst)
