Simulated worlds startup Improbable Ltd. has raised a whopping $502 million in a Series B round of financing.

According to reports, the round was raised on a $1 billion valuation. It was led by Softbank and also included previous investors Andreessen Horowitz and Horizon Ventures.

Founded in 2012, Improbable offers SpatialOS, an operating system that facilitates large-scale simulations in the cloud, making possible virtual worlds that the company claims are of “unprecedented scale and complexity.” Improbable’s last round of funding occurred in 2015, when it raised $20 million from investors intrigued by an operating system that could run simulated worlds in real time, simulating the behaviors and interactions of millions of people and objects.

“We believe that the next major phase in computing will be the emergence of large-scale virtual worlds which enrich human experience and change how we understand the real world,” Improbable Chief Executive Officer Herman Narula said in a statement. “At Improbable we have spent the last few years building the foundational infrastructure for this vision.”

While Improbable currently focuses on virtual-world gaming, the company sees SpatialOS as having a wide range of uses, such as being used to help explore diseases, improve cities, understand economies and solve other complex problems.

Narula wrote in a blog post that Improbable is working toward a future in which participatory virtual worlds and simulations of unimaginable scale become ubiquitous. “We think that the games of today are an incredibly exciting medium, but also that they will evolve into massive worlds and offer meaningful experiences for a much broader segment of society than previously imagined,” Narula said. “It’s our goal to solve the critical technical problems and unlock that future.”

Including the new round, Improbable has raised $524 million to date. Previous investors who did not participate in the new round include Conversion Capital and LocalGlobe.

The company said it would use the new funding to further develop SpatialOS as well as addding staff to its London and San Francisco offices.

Image: Improbable