Virtual socialization platform Preciate Inc. announced Tuesday that it closed a $4.6 million seed funding round led by led by Inspiration Ventures.

This seed round follows the launch of Preciate’s platform in September, a 2D virtual socialization and gathering platform designed to help businesses facilitate remote events, parties and socials. Since that launch, Preciate’s customer base has grown by over 200% quarter-over-quarter.

“With remote work becoming the new normal, companies and organizations need tools that provide the value of in-person relationship building remotely,” said Ed Stevens, co-founder and chief executive of Preciate.

With remote work becoming more prevalent for office workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of social media, email, chatrooms and other digital communication has pushed teams further apart.

Preciate’s virtual socialization platform uses a 2D avatar-based “room” style visualization to put people into the same space with audio in order to bring some of the feeling of being back together in order to provide an entirely new way for large groups to socialize online.

That creates an immersive experience that’s fully customizable that replicates the experience and atmosphere of a company mixer (without putting people in the same building) including the ability to move between conversation groups. The background can be fully customized and music can be personalized just as it could in a live event. Companies can even hire live performers, such as Ed Sheeran, to headline their social event.

“Virtual socialization is only going to grow in the coming years, and people need tools that are specifically designed for the task,” said Gady Nemirovsky, general partner at Inspiration Ventures. “After using the platform to host our own business socials, socials, it was clear that Preciate had created a product perfectly suited to meet this need and is light-years ahead of the competition.”

Aside from being a potential entertainment venue, Preciate’s platform is also perfect for workshops and breakout meetings. It can be used to create an environment for medium- and large-sized teams to start large and then break apart into smaller teams that can split apart – visibly to the larger group, which can continue together – with members moving among groups.

Sales and marketing staff also have a significant opportunity with Preciate. They could use the platform to provide customers a way to feel special and more connected to the company by bringing them into social mixer events to drive retention. With Preciate, companies could host virtual events with speakers, live music and drive presentations that would leave a lasting impression.

Preciate Social also suggests that the platform would be great for numerous different types of employee events including weekly coffee breaks, game nights or a virtual coffee hour. The objective of the platform is to provide some sort of morale boost to remote workers when they’re separated from colleagues.

Image: Preciate