As Meta pulls back investment, here’s what happened to some of the startups that went all-in on the metaverse.

BY CHRIS MORRIS @MORRISATLARGE

Avatar design within the Roblox metaverse. Photo: Courtesy Company

Word that Meta was planning to make cuts in its Reality Labs division earlier this month didn’t exactly come as a shock. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has lost an estimated $70 billion on the unit since 2021 without seeing much return on investment on his Metaverse quest. Now, four years after changing the company name to Meta (Nasdaq: META), the stock price has been mostly flat in 2025 (up just 2 percent), and Zuckerberg is shifting some of the Reality Labs division’s focus to AI glasses and other wearables. But Meta wasn’t the only company racing to build the metaverse. Several startups bet on it as well.

While many are still around, some have pivoted to other areas. Others have shuttered as revenue remains sparse, funding........

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