Africa’s metaverse story started taking shape long before virtual worlds became a mainstream conversation. One of the projects that helped put an African identity into that conversation was Africarare, a South African-built platform designed to bring African creativity, brands and communities into an immersive digital world.
Launched as Africa’s first metaverse, Africarare created Ubuntuland, a virtual environment where users could explore digital spaces, own virtual land, interact with brands and participate in experiences built around African culture and creativity. The platform combined virtual reality, blockchain, NFTs and cryptocurrency to create a digital economy around its virtual world.
Today, Africarare has evolved into UBU, with a stronger focus on AI-powered mixed reality, immersive experiences, branded environments, games and digital interaction. The company says its latest platform, UBU V3, was rebuilt in-house using proprietary technology.
How Africarare started
Africarare was developed by South African entrepreneurs including Mic Mann, who served as co-founder and CEO. Mann also co-founded the experiential brand agency Mann Made and is co-CEO of Singularity South Africa, giving the project a background rooted in marketing, storytelling, events and emerging technologies.
The project launched its alpha version in 2021 during the SingularityU South Africa Online Summit. From there, the team began developing Ubuntuland as a digital environment where African and international organisations could establish virtual experiences.
The name Ubuntuland was closely connected to the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which emphasises community, interconnectedness and shared humanity. That idea also became central to the platform’s identity and later influenced the decision to rebrand Africarare as UBU.
Building Ubuntuland
Ubuntuland was designed as a virtual world divided into digital spaces that could be owned, developed and used by individuals, companies and communities.
Virtual land could be purchased and developed, with owners able to create experiences around their digital properties. The platform attracted companies looking to experiment with new forms of digital engagement rather than simply building another website or social media campaign.
By early 2024, Africarare said Ubuntuland had more than 200 individual and corporate landowners. These included organisations such as Nedbank, Primedia, Singularity Group, HAQQ Network, Mann Made and CyberKongz. The company also reported 90,000 registered users and more than 20,000 hours of user engagement.
This gave the platform a structure that went beyond virtual real estate. Brands could use their spaces to create experiences, while users could explore different environments and interact with digital content.
Bringing African brands into the metaverse
One of Africarare’s most notable achievements was attracting major African companies into its virtual world. In 2022, MTN became one of the platform’s early corporate participants after securing a 12×12 village, equivalent to 144 plots of virtual land, in Ubuntuland. The move positioned the telecommunications company among the first major African brands to establish a presence inside the metaverse.
Nedbank followed with its own 12×12 village in September 2022, becoming the first African financial services organisation to establish a presence in the platform’s virtual world. The Nedbank space was planned around customer experiences, including virtual gaming and a sports lounge.
The bank later used the environment for a virtual version of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, allowing fans to experience the event inside Ubuntuland. These partnerships showed one of Africarare’s original ideas: that the metaverse could become another environment where African companies could tell stories, engage customers and experiment with new digital experiences.
As the platform developed, its focus expanded beyond virtual land.Africarare’s original environment combined 3D spaces, NFTs, cryptocurrency and virtual experiences. Users could explore digital environments while brands could build customised spaces around their products and communities.
The current UBU platform takes this concept further.Its website now presents several types of experiences, including digital twin events, branded campaigns, immersive learning, AI-powered retail experiences, branded games and 3D immersive worlds. These experiences can be accessed through desktop and mobile devices, while VR headset interfaces can also be developed where required.
This means the platform is no longer positioned simply as a place to buy virtual land. It is becoming infrastructure for organisations that want to build interactive digital experiences.
UBU and the next phase of the platform
In January 2025, Africarare announced that it was rebranding as UBU, drawing from the Ubuntu philosophy that had already shaped Ubuntuland. The rebrand accompanied a significant rebuild of the platform. According to the company, the new UBU V3 was developed over 15 months using proprietary AI-powered technology created in-house.
UBU is structured around two main areas.UBULand provides immersive digital environments, including digital twins, branded campaigns, gamified learning and entertainment.
UBUGames focuses on blockchain-based esports and gaming experiences within the wider UBU ecosystem.The current platform also allows users to create customised avatars, including AI-generated versions based on selfies. Users can choose different body types, clothing and accessories and create a digital identity for use inside UBU.
Introducing AI into the experience
AI has become a major part of UBU’s latest direction. The platform’s current website highlights AI-powered avatar creation, while earlier plans for the rebuilt platform included an AI Builder that would allow landowners to create AI avatars using their own GPTs and deploy them within their digital environments.
Instead of simply displaying information inside a virtual environment, an organisation could build an experience where users interact with digital characters, explore products or participate in branded activities. The platform’s current examples include a virtual car-buying experience in the Lazarus Metaverse, where users can explore vehicles in 3D and interact with AI to get answers about them.
The UBU token
Blockchain remains part of the platform’s ecosystem through the UBU token, originally introduced as the $UBUNTU token. Africarare announced the token in early 2024 as a utility token designed to support transactions and interactions within its digital ecosystem. The token was built around the Ubuntu concept of community participation and shared progress.
The token launched on the Polygon network, with the project positioning it as a means of exchanging value across the Ubuntuland ecosystem. It was intended to support activities including digital asset transactions, experiences and rewards.
The token also connected the platform’s virtual economy to the wider Web3 ecosystem, giving users another way to interact with digital assets within the environment.
Games and digital entertainment
Gaming has also become an important part of UBU’s ecosystem. One example is The Last Hodler, a blockchain-based game built around competition, rewards and digital assets. The platform has also experimented with creator and streamer participation through referral programmes that allow creators to bring their audiences into tournament games.
The development of UBUGames reflects a wider change in the platform’s direction. Instead of treating the metaverse only as a virtual meeting or marketing environment, UBU is building entertainment and gaming into the experience.
This creates another way for users to spend time inside the ecosystem while giving creators and brands opportunities to participate.
One of the strongest elements of UBU’s current positioning is its focus on brands.The platform allows companies to develop digital experiences without requiring users to own specialised VR hardware. Its website states that UBU experiences can run across desktop and mobile, while VR support can be added where needed.
For brands, this can include virtual events, interactive campaigns, digital twins, games and immersive learning environments. That makes UBU less dependent on the idea that everyone needs to enter a traditional metaverse through a headset. Instead, the company is building experiences that can meet users on devices they already use.
Connecting African creativity to a global digital economy
Africarare’s original mission was centred on using the metaverse to unlock African creativity and connect the continent to the global digital economy. That mission remains visible in UBU’s current positioning.
The platform is being built around an African identity while allowing international brands, creators and communities to participate. Its use of the Ubuntu philosophy also gives the project a cultural foundation that differentiates it from virtual worlds built around generic digital environments.
For African creators, this creates a digital space where culture, storytelling, entertainment and technology can exist together. For companies, it creates another channel for reaching audiences and for users, it provides an environment where digital identity and interaction can extend beyond traditional social platforms.
What comes next for UBU?
Africarare’s journey from a virtual land project into UBU shows how the company has adapted its original metaverse concept.The first phase focused heavily on Ubuntuland, virtual land, NFTs and bringing major African brands into the metaverse. The current phase places more emphasis on AI, immersive experiences, digital twins, gaming and branded environments.
UBU’s current website reflects this wider ambition, presenting the platform as a place where organisations can build digital twin events, branded campaigns, immersive learning experiences, AI-powered retail stores and games.
The result is a platform that has retained its African identity while expanding beyond the original idea of a virtual world. Africarare began by asking what an African metaverse could look like. UBU is now exploring a larger question: what can African-built immersive technology become when AI, gaming, Web3 and digital experiences come together?