How Success Happened for Hrish Lotlikar, Co-Founder and CEO of SuperWorldHrish Lotlikar is on a mission to build a better world by leveraging augmented reality, blockchain and AI technologies.

Hrish Lotlikar has always had a love for travel. As a digital nomad, he's been able to spend every year living in different parts of the world, from Kyiv to San Francisco and Miami to Stockholm. So, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that Lotlikar co-founded SuperWorld, one of the most dynamic global augmented reality (AR) platforms in the space. SuperWorld is a virtual world in AR that has been digitally mapped over the entire surface of Plant Earth— 68.4 billion individual plots to be exact.

SuperWorld users can buy and sell virtual real estate anywhere in the world, and the platform provides a unique opportunity to personalize and curate any location with essentially any digital asset — be it 3D animation, design, art, music, video, text — all through AR.

For example, you could purchase a plot of virtual land in, say, London and place 3D animation and various digital assets for other users to engage with. You could also leave a video of yourself talking about experiences around the city and leave virtual notes at favorite restaurants, bars and landmarks.

"Essentially, SuperWorld exists in the real world and everyone has a world they can create," says Lotlikar.

And you don't need to buy virtual real estate to create space or engage with others. Through the SuperWorld mobile app, users can log in and drop in on experiences anywhere in the world. The geo-pinning feature means that as a creator, you can place digital assets anywhere in the world that can engage with by others who locate that pin.

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Each plot of virtual real estate within SuperWorld is a non-fungible token (NFT), represented by the ERC-721 standard of tradable assets and sold at 0.1ETH. However, many users are currently selling their plots at a much higher price, especially for coveted properties and landmarks like the Statue of Liberty in New York City or the Colosseum in Rome. In addition to buying and selling virtual real estate, every landowner on the platform can monetize future activity that occurs within their space since NFTs are programmable digital assets that can activate decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols from any economics that occur within that virtual space.

To understand how Lotlikar first came up with this concept, you have to go back to about five years ago when he co-founded Rogue Initiative Studios, a Hollywood film, TV, gaming and immersive entertainment studio (partnering with Hollywood director Michael Bay.)

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Then came the Pokémon GO craze that took the gaming world by storm and captured the attention of millions. Lotlikar didn't spend much time playing the game, but he admired its ability to engage a wide audience through augmented reality.

"I was inspired by this because I saw how many people were captivated by that game, but only a fraction of the population played it," he says. "I thought about people beyond those in the gaming circle, including people who work in fashion, music, education or anything else performative that would also be interested in that kind of customized creative world. This game provided me with the understanding that you can create an immersive environment in the real world, and it could be incredibly compelling."

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Launching a multi-layered platform like SuperWorld wasn't easy, but all came together with Lotlikar's background in venture capital, fierce dedication and intelligent networking. Notable investors who contributed to the creation and advancement of SuperWorld include Draper Goren Holm, Outlier Ventures, SOSV, Capital Factory and Altered Ventures, among a few others.

From the platform's creators (co-founder and CEO Hrish Lotlikar and co-founder and CTO Max Woon) and a full staff to the investors, one thing that everyone involved in SuperWorld believes in is that the platform can make the real world a better place.

"At SuperWorld, our vision is to help build a better world, and a move toward greater environmental stewardship is a critical part of our business model," says Lotlikar.

This past summer, Lotlikar and his team hosted "Digital See," the first social impact NFT exhibition to help raise awareness and funds for the Flint Water Festival. And in August of this year, SuperWorld announced their latest NFT social impact project in partnership with Disaster Fighters and The World Bank to offer exclusive collectible NFT cards through the SuperWorld NFT Salon. Funds raised will go directly towards any areas in the Caribbean affected by hurricanes.

"In the last few years since SuperWorld launched, we have democratized the metaverse by creating new ways of experiencing the world, interacting with others, and sharing information," says Lotlikar. "I truly believe that having a platform like SuperWorld allows us to appreciate the real world, while engaging in the virtual world like never before. The possibilities are endless."