Narula adored playing multiplayer video games in his teens and 20s. But he felt the way players interacted with one another in virtual worlds was too often clunky or lacking in meaning. In 2012, the Cambridge computer science graduate set up his London-based metaverse developer Improbable to help create virtual environments where up to 30,000 people can simultaneously interact with one another. The technology has been harnessed by retailers, event organisers and sports clubs, as well as video games makers. A fundraising in late 2022 valued Improbable at £2.7bn.