Investments – Page 3 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

August 21, 2017

VR World Decentraland Raises $25.5 Million In Cryptocurrency

Decentraland is an open-source initiative that will allow users to create ‘land’ and objects for use in its virtual space. While not dissimilar to Second Life, Decentraland distinguishes itself with blockchain technology- the same record keeping innovation that powers Bitcoin, Etherium, and other virtual currencies- which generates 10m x 10m blocks of space called LAND alongside the cryptocurrency MANA tokens which willpower the virtual economy. One LAND costs 1000 MANA tokens.

Decentraland recently finished its initial coin offering (ICO)- a sort of cryptocurrency hybrid of a traditional IPO and a crowdfunding initiative- taking in $25.5 million in the digital coinage Etherium in exchange for the first MANA tokens. Players will use these tokens to buy not just property, but goods and services on sale in the virtual world.

Initially set to go for nine days, or until $25 million was raised, the ICO began on August 17th with coins on sale for 0.080 ETH (approx. USD 26) per LAND and was slated to slowly rise to a maximum of 0.133 ETH (USD 43). However, demand was so overwhelming that 7,000 transactions could not be processed before the company hit its fundraising cap, ending the ICO.

Investors aren’t the only ones who will own MANA tokens to start. According to the Decentraland blog, “40 percent of the token supply will be allocated to the launch contributors; 20 percent is reserved to incentivize content creators and developers to build inside of Decentraland; 20 percent will go to the development team, early contributors and advisors; and the remaining 20 percent will be held by the Decentraland Foundation.”

The first parcels of virtual real estate will go on sale in a few months. Decentraland is still preparing a land allocation policy to ensure equitable distribution and to ensure buyers can procure contiguous blocks of LAND. In the trailer above the platform can be seen running on the HTC Vive, though we’re not sure if it’s coming to the Oculus Rift too.

August 15, 2017

VR Training Developer Serious Labs Secures $5 Million in First Round Funding

Edmonton-based virtual reality developer Serious Labs announced they have received $5 million in series A funding from United Rentals and Brick and Mortar Ventures.

Serious Labs develops VR training simulators for the heavy construction industry. The company’s website currently advertises VR simulations for cranes, aerial work platforms, and snubbing. The company also offers non-VR training applications and simulations workers can use on a phone, tablet, or laptop.

Serious Labs previously assisted United Rentals with a more traditional blended simulator, which included a VR display and physical control panels.

In addition to the $5 million in VC funding, Serious Labs announced they have secured over $3.5 million in VR contracts. The money will be used to further develop Serious Lab’s VR simulators, including forklifts, backhoes, and skid steers.

August 12, 2017

NVIDIA Has Strong Earnings As GPU Surge Continues

Nvidia keeps on raking in revenue from chips for artificial intelligence, game graphics, the Nintendo Switch game console, and self-driving cars. But we’ll have to listen to the conference call to find out if cryptocurrency mining also drove sales.

The world’s biggest stand-alone maker of graphics chips and AI chips reported $2.2 billion in revenues for its second fiscal quarter, blowing past Wall Street estimates.

Analysts had expected earnings of 70 cents a share on a GAAP basis and quarterly revenue of $1.96 billion. Net income came in at 92 cents a share, compared with 41 cents a year ago. Revenues a year ago were $1.4 billion.

One question is whether Nvidia’s earnings got a boost from cryptocurrency’s popularity, as rival Advanced Micro Devices cited the possibility of demand for graphics cards from cryptocurrency miners. Cryptocurrency miners can use computing power to unearth new cryptocurrency.

Nvidia started in 1993 as one among dozens of graphics chip startups. It survived the competition to become the only stand-alone graphics chip maker, competing directly with CPU makers Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. It supplies graphics chips for the Nintendo Switch game console, but much of its fortunes are now tied to self-driving cars and artificial intelligence. Its rivals also include Qualcomm.

“Adoption of Nvidia [graphics process unit] GPU computing is accelerating, driving growth across our businesses,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, in a statement. “Data center revenue increased more than two and a half times. A growing number of car and robot-taxi companies are choosing our Drive PX self-driving computing platform. And in gaming, increasingly the world’s most popular form of entertainment, we power the fastest growing platforms — GeForce and Nintendo Switch.”

He added, “Nearly every industry and company is awakening to the power of AI. Our new Volta GPU, the most complex processor ever built, delivers a 100-fold speed up for deep learning beyond our best GPU of four years ago. This quarter, we shipped Volta in volume to leading AI customers. This is the era of AI, and the Nvidia GPU has become its brain. We have incredible opportunities ahead of us.”

Nvidia’s market value is $98.5 billion, up dramatically in the past few years thanks to growing enthusiasm for AI. Nvidia is forecasting revenue of $2.35 billion for the third fiscal quarter, which closes at the end of October. The company’s stock is down 4.5 percent in after-hours trading, to $156.85 a share.

“Nvidia had a very solid quarter driven by big growth from gaming and data center,” said Patrick Moorhead, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, in an email. “Both Pascal-based GeForce, Tesla, and even Tegra are hitting on all cylinders in a rapidly growing market, all goodness for the company. The only real blemish came from a discontinuation of an expected Intel IP licensing agreement. Nvidia will start to see a bit more competition in the gaming and machine learning category in the next two quarters, but I expect the company to still have a sizable raw performance lead with Volta-based GPUs.”

This post by Dean Takahashi originally appeared on VentureBeat.

August 12, 2017

Snap Stock Dropped 17% From Decreased Revenue And Lagging User Growth

Not even the dancing hot dog can cheer up Snap’s cranky investors. Only a few minutes into Snap’s earnings call Thursday, Evan Spiegel mentioned the popular hot-dog filter his company introduced last month, saying it may be “the world’s first augmented reality superstar.”

But it was too late. Even a beloved luminary like the breakdancing hot dog couldn’t undo the gloom that had already settled on Snap’s earnings report, which missed revenue and net loss estimates only slightly but seemed to lead to another wave of disillusionment around the social media company.

Snap’s stock fell as much as 17 percent to $11.40 a share in after-hours trading after the company said revenue rose 153 percent to $182 million and net profit nearly quadrupled to $443 million, or 16 cents a share. Analysts had been expecting $186 million in revenue and a net loss of 14 cents a share. At its low point, Snap was trading 33 percent below its March IPO offering price.

Snap has proven proficient at rolling out innovative features, such as amusing filters or Snap Map, which uses a map interface to locate snaps from one’s friends or those shared publicly around the world. But the metrics the company shared on both user activity and its ability to monetize those users show Snap is still battling its way up a hill where Facebook and Instagram are already standing.

Average daily users grew 21 percent to 173 million in the second quarter, below the 175 million that analysts polled by Factset had forecast. Average revenue per user more than doubled to $1.05 — also below the $1.07 figure that analysts were looking for.

Again, these shortfalls are hardly evidence Snap is troubled. Rather, they show it’s taking longer for the company to deliver on the user engagement and revenue generation investors were hoping for when it went public. But because Facebook has been so quick to copy Snapchat features in Instagram, more time isn’t a luxury Snap can necessarily afford. (For context, Instagram has 700 million DAU and the Instagram Stories feature has more than 250 million.)

After a rocky earnings report in the first quarter, the pressure was on Snap and Spiegel to turn things around in the second quarter. While Spiegel and other Snap executives spoke repeatedly about the company’s progress luring in big advertisers with features such as self-service ads, the absence of guidance that could buttress that optimism with Snap’s estimates added to the uncertainty around its future.

Also adding to the uncertainty were signals that Snap was focusing on controlling costs rather than expanding its user base outside of North America and Europe. Headcount in the second quarter grew 10 percent to 2,600, down from the 27 percent growth rate in the previous quarter. Snap indicated that the pace of hiring could remain slower in the current quarter.

Spiegel said that he and cofounder Bobby Murphy wouldn’t sell any of their shares in Snap this year, saying they still believe in the company’s long-term success. “Snap is one of six platforms with over 150 daily active users outside of China. The other five are platforms run by two companies with huge market caps,” he said. “We’ve historically been able to do business in markets that are highly competitive and saturated by our competitors.”

Snap is taking small steps toward that long-term potential — for example, it posted a gross profit for the first time since it first filed to go public. But it’s still spending nearly $3.50 for every revenue of dollar it brings in.

Bottom line is that Snap still has a long way to go. And investors are starting to wonder if it has enough time to get there.

This article by Kevin Kelleher originally appeared on VentureBeat.

Tagged with: snap, Snapchat

August 6, 2017

Greycroft’s Jon Goldman Raises $15.6 Million Fund For VR, AR, Esports, And Games

Greycroft venture partner Jon Goldman has closed a $15.6 million fund to invest in virtual reality, augmented reality, games, and esports. Greycroft Partners is a limited partner and investor in the GC VR Gaming Tracker Fund, but Goldman will be investing the fund on his own as he looks for smaller investments ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 per startup. While Goldman recently closed the fund, he has already made 20 investments in since early 2016, Goldman said in an exclusive interview with GamesBeat.

Goldman’s portfolio includes Mindshow, LiveLike, SliverTV, Littlstar, UploadVR, and FanAI. The fund has committed more than $4 million in investments so far, but Goldman said that he expects he’ll have money to invest through 2019.

“We have a lot of dry powder,” Goldman said. “That’s because we are not likely to be making follow-on investments, as that is the kind of thing that Greycroft would do if they wanted.”

Greycroft Partners has invested in game companies such as Scopely and Fig.

Tracker is the a vertically focused seed fund that taps Goldman’s industry expertise. And the larger Greycroft Partners has already made a larger, later-stage investment in one of Goldman’s picks. Goldman said the new fund will help Greycroft invest more strategically in AR and VR.

“AR, VR, video games and e-sports continue to grow tremendously and spawn entirely new user experiences and industries,” said Goldman. “Through our investments, we can help these startups reach the next stage of market adoption. We are committed to helping new teams, not only through capital, but also with connections and strategic advice.”

“We have been working together for four years and are excited to dive deeper into VR, AR, e- sports and video gaming with an operator like Jon who has lived in the space for years,” said Dana Settle, cofounder and partner of Greycroft, in a statement. “We have already co-invested with Tracker in a number of companies and believe this sector-specific approach will help us develop expertise and relationships in these quickly emerging ecosystems.”

“Jon understood the vision of our company, supported us enthusiastically and evangelized us to fellow investors to help us to fill our round quickly,” said Gil Baron, cofounder and CEO of Mindshow, in a statement. Mindshow has a platform that lets anyone create interactive, animated VR.

Goldman is based in Los Angeles, but he said he will look at investment opportunities in all areas.

He will also remain a managing partner for Skybound, the intellectual property holder of The Walking Dead and other top intellectual properties.

He earned his chops in gaming as chairman and CEO of Foundation 9 Entertainment, which was once the largest independent video game developer in the world, with 11 studios and 1,000 employees globally. He sold the company in 2006 to Francisco Partners and has been an active investor for the past decade.

While VR has taken off slower than expected, Goldman said he believes that VR still has real revenues ahead of it.

“The main message of the slowdown is you have to be a little more realistic,” he said. “When you have frothy valuations, companies run into a wall when they’re raising their next round of money. As you move on from a seed stage, a startup should be able to show facts on the ground, like user growth and revenues. If you don’t have those, it’s a real red flag.”

Goldman said the fund invested $300,000 into Floreo, which makes therapeutic VR simulations for people with autism. He said the fund would focus on pre-commercial seed stage companies.

“I am bullish on these industries despite the trough of disillusionment,” he said. “There has been a historic trend in games where the drive for more immersion just keeps growing. It’s not going away, as gamers will always want more of it. Esports is not going away. These are not just fads of the moment.”

This post by Dean Takahashi originally appeared on VentureBeat.

Tagged with: Jon Goldman

August 3, 2017

Boeing Invests in VR and 360-Degree Video Firm C360 Technologies

Boeing’s Horizon X program was launched back in May to provide funding to innovative and disruptive technologies. One of its first recipients was an augmented reality (AR) firm, and the company is seemly continuing with its interest in virtual reality (VR) and AR companies with the investment in C360 Technologies.

Pittsburgh-based C360 Technologies is focussed on broadcast-quality solutions for VR and 360-degree video experiences, and have worked with FOX Sports to provide online telecasts of various sporting events, such as the MLB All-Star Events and the 2017 Daytona 500.

“Our C360 investment is a powerful example of how HorizonX can access rapid advances in innovation outside aerospace and bring them to our Boeing customers,” said Steve Nordlund, Boeing HorizonX vice president. “Putting additional capital to work and linking C360’s innovators with our Boeing teams allows us to accelerate new solutions, while providing new market access for C360. It’s a win-win — especially for our customers.”

“Since the inception of our company, we’ve been fortunate to work with some of the best organizations in the world, integrating C360’s technology into sports telecasts viewed by international audiences,” said Evan Wimer, CEO of C360 Technologies. “It’s extremely gratifying that Boeing HorizonX has recognized our contributions within the sports broadcasting industry, and at the same time envisions how C360 could be utilized in future Boeing applications. We’re confident that Boeing’s investment into C360 will propel and inspire us to further advancements in the 360 VR/AR industry.”

Boeing are said to be looking as possible aerospace applications for C360 Technologies VR and 360-degree video platform, which may include improved autonomous systems and technical training.

VRFocus will continue to provide news on developments within the VR industry.

August 2, 2017

VR, AR and E-Sports Get $15.6 Million In Investments From Greycroft Venture Partner

Greycroft Venture partner Jon Goldman has announced the close of investments into virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), E-Sports and videogame areas and companies totalling $15.6million (USD).

Greycroft Ventures previously set up its GC VR Gaming Tracker Fund, known simply as ‘Tracker’, to provide seed funding, and has made over 20 investments in VR, AR and videogaming areas of between $50k-$500k. Goldman will be managing the Tracker fund as he has a substantial background in videogaming, having previously been chairman and CEO of Foundation 9 Entertainment, one of the largest independent videogame developers.

“AR, VR, video games and e-sports continue to grow tremendously and spawn entirely new user experiences and industries,” said Jon Goldman. “Through our investments, we can help these startups reach the next stage of market adoption. We are committed to helping new teams, not only through capital, but also with connections and strategic advice.”

“We have been working together for four years and are excited to dive deeper into VR, AR, e-sports and video gaming with an operator like Jon who has lived in the space for years,” said Dana Settle, co-founder and partner of Greycroft. “We have already co-invested with Tracker in a number of companies and believe this sector-specific approach will help us develop expertise and relationships in these quickly emerging ecosystems.”

“Jon has been a great partner to work with in e-sports,” said Johannes Waldstein, co-founder and CEO of e-sports monetization company FanAI. “His network has already opened several doors in the short time they have been investors and we are excited to continue to have Tracker’s support.”

VRFocus will continue to report on news on investments within the VR and AR industry.

July 26, 2017

Within Raises $40 Million To Push Shared Virtual Worlds Further

Groundbreaking VR content company Within raised $40 million in funding to help it “push the medium of virtual and augmented reality even further,” according to a press release.

Co-founder and CEO Chris Milk is one of the people responsible for popularizing the idea that VR can create “the ultimate empathy machine,” and the company’s content has been at the forefront of the medium as it evolved over the last few years. Originally known as Vrse, Within raised $56.6 million to date and will “work to develop the technology and software necessary to bring immersive experiences to the masses” while helping it “source engineering talent to create more engaging shared experiences for both entertainment and social impact.”

The Series B round was co-led by Temasek and Emerson Collective with new investors including WPP and MACRO Ventures. Existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, 21st Century Fox and Raine Ventures participated in the round.

“With the new wave of growth surrounding emerging formats like AR, there’s a tremendous amount of momentum in the industry right now,” said Milk, in a prepared statement. “However, the biggest challenge that the industry is facing is the lack of access to compelling experiences for consumers. With incredible investment partners, we now have the opportunity to tackle this issue and accelerate getting technically complex, but emotionally powerful, immersive experiences to the public at large.”

Within builds its own virtual worlds and also curates some from other creators, with apps available on both that depicts evolution on Earth as well as Hallelujah, a musical world set to Leonard Cohen’s song.

Tagged with: Within

July 26, 2017

Reach Robotics Secures £5.8m in Funding for AR Robotics Project

A UK robotics company based at the University of the West of England have been working on a project that combines consumer robotics with augmented reality (AR). The company, Reach Robotics has secured a £5.8 million investment to continue its work.

The company was founded in 2013 by Silas Adekunle, Chris Beck and John Rees to create the ‘next generation robotics platform. Since then, Reach Robotics have created a crab-like small robot that can be controlled with a smartphone. The robot, dubbed the MekaMon, can engage in simulated battles against virtual foes by engaging the AR mode on the smartphone controller app, or the user can battle against other MekaMon owners.

Reach Robotics’ CEO Silas Adekunle said: “To date, we’ve executed on our vision for MekaMon as a product with a small and amazing team; this financing round will help us move to the next exciting chapter of our company and execute our go-to-market strategy, strengthen our team and capitalise on some of the amazing partnerships that are developing around the globe. We are now looking for the very best talent across lots of disciplines to join our team and help us achieve our vision.”

The investment came from Singapore-based venture capital company iGlobe Partners. Founder Soo Boon Koh said of the investment: “Reach Robotics is an exciting investment for iGlobe. MekaMon is a sensational product at the crossroads of AR, robotics and gaming sectors; a burgeoning market fuelled by strong demand for immersive play from a new class of consumers.”

Reach Robotics are planning to begin shipment of its MekaMon robots soon. Further information on MekaMon can be found at the Reach Robotics website.

VRFocus will bring you further news on new investments in AR and VR technologies as it becomes available.

July 23, 2017

Presence Capital Has Made 33 VR and AR Investments in Less Than 2 Years

Presence Capital — one of the earliest venture capital firms to focus on virtual reality and augmented reality startups — is today announcing that it has made 33 investments.

That’s a lot of investments for a fund that was announced in December 2015. Presence Capital has invested in Baobab Studios, Bigscreen, Harmonix, Nomadic, Meta, Resolution Games, Scope AR, Strivr, TheWaveVR, and Visbit. While Facebook bought Oculus in 2014, Presence Capital contends that its was the first VC fund to focus on VR/AR. Six of its investments are in game companies.

“A little under two years ago, Paul Bragiel, Phil Chen, and I started Presence Capital so we could be at the forefront of the platform shift to VR and AR, while helping entrepreneurs who are just as passionate as us about this space,” said Amitt Mahajan, managing partner at Presence Capital, in a statement. “This milestone is a huge reward in our journey that is really just taking off.”

Before Presence, Mahajan was the founder and chief technology officer of MyMiniLife (which Zynga acquired) and the founder and CEO of Toro (which Google grabbed). While at Zynga, he co-created the hugely popular game FarmVille and served as the CTO of Zynga Japan. Before his entrepreneurial work, Mahajan was an engineer at Epic Games on the Unreal Engine and Gears of War. He was also founding engineer at Fig, the crowdfunding and equity funding platform for indie games.

Mahajan said the average investment size is around $200,000. Rival funds include the Venture Reality Fund, which has raised $50 million, and the Boost VC accelerator, which makes lots of smaller investments and also puts money into areas such as cryptocurrency.

“There are many cases that we’re the first check into a company,” Mahajan said in an email. “We’ve helped entrepreneurs put together the rest of their seed round by helping set terms and making investor intros.”

As to the VR and AR industries as a whole, Mahajan said, “We see a lot of what’s happening in the space, and because founders are so heads down on their piece of the puzzle, our 10,000-feet view can help provide context for strategic decisions, like which platforms to target or where there may be underserved customers.”

Above: Phil Chen was a co-creator of the HTC Vive and is a partner at a Presence Capital.

Image Credit: Presence Capital

Chen was previously on the founding team that created the HTC Vive, the VR headset based on Valve’s SteamVR technology.

Chen said, “It has been amazing to be a leader within an industry that is so dynamic and has the potential to change the way we do just about everything — from entertainment to games, working, learning, socializing, and more.”

He noted that VR is creating real productivity gains in mental health, particularly in apps related to pain management, autism treatment, and overcoming phobias.

Above: Paul Bragiel of Presence Capital.

Image Credit: Presence Capital/Dan Taylor

Before joining Presence, Bragiel founded three startups and started five funds across four continents, including being an early adviser to companies such as Uber and Unity. Collectively, he had invested in seed rounds for more than 150 companies, which includes holdings in billion dollar companies like Unity and Zappos.

“We absolutely love supporting and empowering the many entrepreneurs that are truly pioneers in the industry and helping it become mainstream, and look forward to helping many more,” added Bragiel, in a statement.

This post by Dean Takahashi originally appeared on VentureBeat.

Tagged with: Presence Capital