MELON, a development studio for the metaverse, raised a $5 million seed round from investors including Crush Ventures (the music investment arm of Crush Music), Gaingels, Comcast Spectacor and a special purpose vehicle (SPV) led by former Roblox CFO Matt Finick, who has also joined the MELON board. The round also drew investment from strategic angels including Beyond Type 1 CEO (and former Recording Academy CEO) Deborah Dugan, 88rising head of BD/brand partnerships Jason Ve and Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman partner Gene Salomon, among others. In music, MELON has previously developed metaverse events for artists including Tai Verdes, Ava Max, KSI and Zara Larsson.