Andy Ku

Summary

Andy Ku is a metaverse developer, mobile gaming pioneer and tech entrepreneur, founder of software companies BlueArk, Nurien Software and, more recently, Altava group.

History

Andy Ku, who undertook BS in Architecture from Cornell University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, currently holds the position of Founder CEO of Altava Group, a Singapore-based luxury fashion metaverse that enables users to discover, interact, and express themselves through an avatar. The company operates ‘World of You’, a metaverse that provides Omni-platform experiential solutions which seamlessly connect consumers to the real-world and virtual world in the space of luxury fashion brands. What’s more, it also has successful collaborations with luxury fashion brands including Thom Browne, Prada, Diesel, Chloe, Bulgari and Balmain.

“We digitized every item in our WOY (Worlds of You) metaverse application for ALTAVA, with final approval coming from the brands themselves. In our upcoming version, only approved brands and creators will be able to produce items like, say, the NFT jacket from Balmain and trade/sell these items in our market, which has built-in security,” Andy Ku tells Forbes.

Andy Ku has a fascinating journey. After he completed graduation, he got involved in startups since 2002, working with some of the world’s most recognisable names in media and gaming. He is also a pioneer in social gaming, having created MStar, a 3D-avatar-based fashion app.

Being involved in gaming companies throughout his career, it didn’t come as a surprise when he became CEO of Netmarble Corp. a Korea-based mobile gaming company, in 2011.  As the chief executive of the company, Andy was involved in developing games like Marvel Future Fight, Seven Knights, Raven and Everybody’s Marble, among others.

That’s not all! He founded BlueArk in 2014 to develop and publish games and digital education platforms by converting famous IP such as SpongeBob, Dora the Explorer, Toonix, and American Idol into digital formats, working with Viacom, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, XIX Entertainment, BlueArk Global to launch these games and platforms in more than 137 countries.

Today, Andy has over twenty years of gaming experience from working with top global IP holders – representing their world-famous IPs into the game worlds: SpongeBob, Dora the Explorer from Nickelodeon Viacom, Toonix from Cartoon Network, Creator of Grand Theft Auto, Simon Fuller (American Idol).

Currently, he is the news as the Founder CEO of Altava Group, a Singapore-based company with offices in Seoul, Tokyo, London, and Paris; the company aims to bring luxury brands into the metaverse… positioning itself at the intersection of technology and fashion, bridging the real and virtual worlds. It brings luxury fashion brands into the metaverse, offering them virtual spaces to share stories — a place where they can feature their digitised collections in a branded, customisable environment.

“We are thankful that the institutional investors, as well as retail investors, continue to have faith in our vision of helping brands to connect and explore the opportunity between the IRL and the Web3. Our recent pop-up shop for our Bored Ape Golf Club NFT collection with Hyundai Department Store,” said Andy Ku told GlobeNewswire.

Of late, Altava Group collaborated with Sandbox to launch an exclusive NFT collection. It’s an exciting time for digitalisation as the collaboration will provide those who purchase the NFT collection the access to use it in both The Sandbox and Altava ‘Worlds of You’ metaverse, and will undoubtedly amplify Altava to become the most coveted fashion metaverse. The NFT collection will also leverage Altava’s experience of digitizing and tokenising assets for high-end luxury brands including Balmain and Prada to create the most coveted PFP and avatars in The Sandbox metaverse for the lucky owners!!

Vision

Andy Ku aims to bring luxury brands into the metaverse… positioning it at the intersection of technology and fashion, bridging the real and virtual worlds. He brings luxury fashion brands into the metaverse, offering them virtual spaces to share stories — a place where they can feature their digitised collections in a branded, customisable environment.

Mission Statement

“We bring culture defining fashion brands into the metaverse”

Products and Services

Bridging the IRL and fashion metaverse

References

• Official website Andy ku
• ALTAVA Group and bemyfriends Sign Strategic Partnership Yahoo Finance
• LinkedIn profile of Andy Ku LinkedIn
• Altava Mirror
• Facebook profile of Andy Ku Facebook
• Metaverse And NFTs Provide Improved Intellectual Property Protections For Brands Forbes
• TBWA Asia goes deep into the metaverse with Altava Group win
• Youtube profile of Andy Ku Youtube
• ALTAVA Group Partners with the Sandbox to Launch Exclusive NFT Collection ACN Newswire
• Twitter profile of Andy Ku Twitter
• The Sandbox and ALTAVA announce ALTAVA Club House Sandbox
• ALTAVA, Announces Three New Features Globe Newswire