PR99707

HONG KONG, March 6, 2023 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

Mapxus, the leading indoor mapping technology platform backed by the Japanese

corporation Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Hong Kong-based venture capital firm

Beyond Ventures, has announced a joint venture with NOIZChain ('NOIZ'), wholly

owned subsidiary of a Hong Kong Listed Company Merdeka Financial Group Limited

(Stock code: 8163.HK), leading provider of cost-efficient

Blockchain-as-a-Service ('BaaS'), to co-create Honio, the world's first indoor

location-based Game-Fi metaverse.

Honio is a move-to-earn metaverse that converges art, culture and community.

Mapxus has partnered with NOIZ to build spatial digital twins of real-life

shopping malls and landmarks in the Honio metaverse, using indoor maps and

positioning technology. Honio app users will be rewarded with free art element

drops according to the time they spend in physical stores. The longer the user

stays, the more art element drops they earn. Furthermore, art elements can be

merged into an NFT. Powered by NOIZ's blockchain technology, the metaverse will

be able to record all customer transactions. As a result, Honio boosts foot

traffic in shopping malls by increasing user retention time in physical stores

while enhancing marketing analytics to enable more comprehensive data reports.

To drive the travel economy by connecting the real world via smartphones, Honio

is being developed as a mobile app that will enable easy access for everyone.

Most metaverses, which can only be accessed via computers, have relatively few

active users, i.e., less than 10,000. In view of this, Honio is targeting the

smartphone user population to increase accessibility. With the app's

country-based feature that maps cities and countries, it is expected to have

over 100 million users upon launch.

The Honio metaverse, which integrates a location-based reward system, creator

and fan economy, and metaverse commerce, benefits from the instrumental role

played by Nfternoon, a digital art specialist company and part of the joint

venture. Nfternoon handles creative consultancy on digital creations, including

NFTs, AI, and digital visualisation, while providing integrated Intellectual

Property (IP) management and marketing for the metaverse. Furthermore, the

location-based reward system redirects traffic to malls through the rewards,

and the crossover of NFT marketing with IP demonstrates the creator and fan

economy, encouraging fans to stay longer at malls to collect NFTs.

Last but not least, metaverse commerce possesses high loyalty value. Through

these features, the Honio metaverse can attract more customers, expand markets

and reach a large demographic by connecting the virtual and physical worlds.

Keith Chow, Chief Innovation Officer of NOIZ, added, "By 2027, over 40% of

large organizations worldwide will be using a combination of Web3, spatial

computing, and digital twins in metaverse-based projects aimed at increasing

revenue. This presents a great opportunity for Honio to help retail businesses

join the metaverse by creating an integration of physical and virtual

experiences to retain and attract their targeted customers through metaverse

gamification."

Ocean Ng, Founder and Chief Operation Officer of Mapxus, believes that Honio

can bring customers back to shopping malls, "As the pandemic is now more stable

and travel restrictions are easing, the travel and retail markets have been

revitalized. Honio provides a metaverse experience for travel enthusiasts by

the time they step into any Honio-supported shopping mall. I believe our

metaverse can greatly benefit our shopping mall partners."

Honio currently focuses mainly on the Japanese market with a target to cover

around 2,000 landmarks by 2023 and 5,000 buildings by 2024. It is also expected

that Honio will be launched in Hong Kong, Taiwan and other Southeast Asian

markets by 2024. Further information about the aforementioned markets will be

released in due course.

About NOIZ

Established in 2018 and headquartered in Hong Kong, NOIZChain Limited ('NOIZ')

is a wholly owned subsidiary of a Hong Kong listed company Merdeka Financial

Group Limited (Stock code: 8163.HK). As a Blockchain-as-a-Service ('BaaS')

company, NOIZ aims to make blockchain technology widely available for every

business and to drive blockchain mass adoption and commercialization.

NOIZ values Environmental, Social, and Governance and has developed an

environmentally friendly blockchain known as 'NOIZChain' ('NOIZ Green Chain'),

which adopts a proof of capacity consensus mechanism that allows mining devices

in the network to use available hard drive space to decide mining rights and to

validate transactions. It has also developed a Metaverse and an all-in-one

digital wallet on the NOIZ Green Chain.

NOIZ provides tailor-made services to various industries, including

international banks, insurance companies, art museums, and advertising

agencies, and it is well prepared to expand its business in a fast-growing

market.

About Mapxus

Mapxus is a comprehensive indoor Geographic Information System (GIS) platform

that provides global indoor mapping and navigation services, aiming to make

indoor mapping smart and simple, and to create a barrier-free and inclusive

city experience for everyone. With cutting-edge indoor mapping and navigation

technology, Mapxus has quickly expanded its service to over 25 cities in the

Asia-Pacific region, covering more than 1,500 venues across various building

types including retail, universities, transit, and government buildings. Mapxus

innovative indoor map data infrastructure is designed to empower people and

businesses, improving daily experiences and work efficiency. Mapxus has just

raised more than US$5 million from Kawasaki Heavy Industries to build a

Japanese indoor map data platform and has received investment from Beyond

Ventures in 2019.

Source: NOIZ