Investments – Page 4 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

July 22, 2017

The AR Landscape Shows 60% Growth in Startups Focused on Enterprise

The Venture Reality Fund released its augmented reality landscape for the second quarter, and the research shows that 150 companies are focused on a wide range of AR technologies.

The Venture Reality Fund, which has raised $50 million to invest in AR and virtual reality startups, said it saw a 60 percent increase in the number of companies that are focused on AR in the enterprise, compared to the first quarter.

“Over the past quarter, the AR industry witnessed several notable moves by major players, including Facebook and Apple, which immediately led to a robust increase in developer activity, as well as extensive coverage in the market,” said Tipatat Chennavasin, cofounder and general partner at The Venture Reality Fund, in a statement. “These strides are reflective of rising interest in AR, driven primarily by device infrastructure and software development tools.”

The VR Fund evaluated more than 2,000 companies for the landscape, and those selected meet a certain criteria of funding, revenue, mainstream coverage and/or major partnerships.

The activity in Q2 was strongest in the areas of device infrastructure and SDK tool development, indicating that AR is still evolving as an industry. These efforts will continue to help advance the growth of apps for consumer and enterprise use in upcoming quarters, Chennavasin said.

Microsoft HoloLens and Google Tango helped lay the groundwork and educate the market about the capabilities of AR, despite limited distribution of their developer kits. Further advancement of these platforms is expected in the near future, in response to Apple’s ARKit.

Google’s advanced Tango technology has been proven to deliver an experience capable of augmenting the entire space around a user. However, the existing fragmentation within the Android ecosystem handicaps rapid development and wider adoption of Tango.

The introduction of Facebook’s camera platform and Apple’s ARKit inspired an immediate uptick in activity and increased attention for the AR space, particularly related to consumer applications. Early developer response indicates that Apple is becoming a major force in the AR platform war.

This post by Dean Takahashi originally appeared on VentureBeat.

Tagged with: Venture Reality Fund, venturebeat

July 18, 2017

ObEN Raises Funding to Create AI Celebrity Avatars for AR

ObEN is a company primarily focussed on the creation of the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI). With AI and machine learning poised to change the landscape for videogames and computing in general, ObEN has announced that it has secured funding to build a celebrity AI platform in augmented reality (AR).

The $5 Million (USD) in funding that ObEN have acquired was led by Tencent Holdings, a company already known for promoting and funding virtual reality (VR) and AR companies and projects.

ObEN is planning to use the money raised to create, store and distribute a Personal AI, something that looks, acts and sounds just like it’s real-life counterpart. ObEN is using a combination of speech, computer vision, and natural language processing to create a realistic virtual voice, 3D avatar image and even personality. ObEN is planning to make this technology available to tech-savvy celebrities so they can interact with fans and enter new markets without needing to travel or divide their time.

“As technology rapidly evolves and moves towards applications using AI, we are excited by ObEN and their AI solution which is poised to enrich user experiences across different online platforms,” said Levin Yao, Executive Director of Tencent Investment. “ObEN’s vision of creating a new form of entertainment and content driven by celebrity AI is inspiring.”

“We are thrilled with Tencent’s strategic investment which serves as validation from one of the world’s premier social and gaming platforms,” said Nikhil Jain, cofounder and CEO of ObEN, Inc. “Fans may never have a personal experience with their favorite celebrity, but ObEN’s Personal AI for celebrities aims to change that. Imagine being able to perform a virtual duet with your favorite artist, have your beloved movie star become the face and voice of your virtual assistant, or engage in a deep conversation with your most admired influencer. The possibilities are infinite.”

ObEN are expecting the new AR platform to launch later this year.

VRFocus will bring you further news on ObEN’s AR platform as it becomes available.

July 17, 2017

AR Startup WaveOptics Targets New Markets With $16 Million Funding

When writing about the future of mixed reality in December, we highlighted WaveOptics‘ efforts to curve the scalability and quality issues that were plaguing MagicLeap at the time. The company’s patented waveguide provides a hologram-based alternative to conventional augmented reality projection and they’re taking the £12 million ($15.6 million) from a series B round of funding to expand into new markets.

Reported by Business Insider, the new round of funds involved previous contributors Octopus Ventures, Touchstone Innovations, and Robert Bosch Venture Capital along with newcomer Gobi Ventures. Gobi is based out of China and has a portfolio that contains Camera360, Gokuai, Madhouse, and many others.

There aren’t any details on exactly how WaveOptics plans to expand to new markets, but AR headset manufacturers all over could benefit greatly from their waveguide tech. Efficient tech is a must for AR as manufacturers work toward more comfortable designs for AR headsets and waveguide gives way to lightweight projection and power efficiency. Progress along those lines brings us closer and closer to AR spectacles that can serve as everyday wear.

July 13, 2017

How Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent are Investing in VR

The BAT web companies — Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu — are using their war chests for a different take on virtual reality (VR) than their overseas competitors. Instead of building and investing in headsets like Facebook of the US, Sony of Japan and HTC of Taiwan, the Chinese trio are becoming middlemen: creating platforms and content for when a dominant headset emerges.

With 688 million Internet users in China alone, BAT already have a massive audience for VR content consumption. China’s fast growing VR market is expected to reach 55 billion yuan in value by 2020, up from 1.5 billion yuan last year, according to the Guangzhou research firm iMedia. Chinese consumers will buy 40 percent of the 6.3 million VR headsets expected to be shipped globally this year, according to Canalys.

In this piece, we look at BAT’s investments in VR and how they are shaping the burgeoning Chinese VR market.

Baidu

Through iQiyi, its streaming-video service, Baidu said in May that it intends to build the world’s biggest Chinese-language VR service. IQiyi is already working with over 300 partners to do so, including Chinese VR manufacturer Beijing Baofeng Technology. IQiyi recently released an app suite that makes its movies and games compatible with head-mounted VR devices. The company is also toying with streaming live concerts and producing VR films, which will become more flexible in the future, with storylines changing based on consumer preferences.

China seems to be a promising market for VR video content. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has said it expects immersive video and game applications to be among the first segments of the VR industry to mature. About 504 million Chinese consumers are already regularly using streaming websites, which may help VR live-broadcasting to catch on quickly.

Companies leading the Chinese VR market are increasingly moving toward creating entertainment experiences, unlike in the US, where the focus has been on creating expensive, high-end hardware. Interest among Chinese consumers is high: one survey by Niko Partners last year found that half of Chinese gamers are interested in VR and 30 percent were willing to spend up to $200 on a device.

Tencent

This may explain why Tencent is also investing in video and game VR content. The company has live-streamed VR concerts for music artists, and has bought the rights to 300 Japanese anime franchises, and is expected to, as a result, add more smartphone games — a lucrative market. China has nearly 400 million online games players, according to CNNIC, and online game revenue is expected to grow from 143 billion yuan last year to 251 billion yuan by 2018, according to IResearch.

Tencent has also invested in Original Force, which creates computer-generated VR content and is working on VR movies for use with Oculus Rift. Original Force is also working with Pulse Evolution, which has created holograms of pop music stars for use at concerts. We think the investments make strategic sense for Tencent, which needs compelling content to keep the 1.3 billion active users on its WeChat and QQ instant-messaging services engaged for longer.

Alibaba

Alibaba, meanwhile, is building VR shopping experiences for its 400 million users. The Chinese ecommerce giant has already built 3-D renderings for hundreds of products and will enable merchants to create their own VR-enabled shopping experiences, Bloomberg reported. Alibaba debuted its VR mall, called Buy+, last year. It used Google Cardboard, which can be distributed at close to nothing. Such efforts are likely to sit well with Chinese consumers, who are less willing to spend big on high-end console VR, but have warmed to cheap mobile devices and VR experiences. When Alibaba released Buy+, 30,000 people tried the platform within an hour of launch, according to the company.

In addition, Alibaba has created a payment service that enables shoppers to pay for things using VR with a nod of their head. VR Pay, as it is known, verifies users via biometric recognition technology that recognizes each consumer’s unique voice before authorizing payment of goods.

Thus far, there is no clear leader in the great Chinese VR race. But it is clear that the mighty BAT are looking beyond hardware and are scrambling to create the dominant platform — and content that will sit on it — for when a major headset eventually emerges in China.

This is a guest post produced by Michael Park, not the UploadVR staff. Michael Park is the founder of LipSync, a VR and AR development studio based in San Francisco and Hong Kong. No compensation was exchanged for the creation of this content.

Tagged with: alibaba, Baidu, china, Tencent

July 13, 2017

nDreams Secures £2.7 Million In Funding

The British virtual reality (VR) industry continue to grow alongside the larger VR industry. As a sign of this growth, UK VR developer nDreams have announced that it has secured £2 Million in funding from Mercia Technologies, with an additional £700,000 from other private investors.

The company has been focussed on rapid growth as the VR industry continues to grow and mature. Ndreams have recently welcomes Paul Fitzsimmons as its new chairman and Rob Precious, a former Director of Business at ARM has also joined the board at nDreams as a non-executive director. The company sees these new hires and new investments as part of its upcoming drive towards creating new content, particularly in the VR arcade area, as nDreams have signed a contract to supply content to a ‘leading VR arcade company’.

nDreams header

Patrick O’Luanaigh, CEO and Founder of nDreams, said: “Mercia’s continued support, and the backing of private investors, bolsters our relentless ambition to remain at the forefront of VR. The company has expanded rapidly over the past 12 months leading to outstanding opportunities, including our move into VR Arcades and our continued focus on creating innovative VR content for home headsets. We’re also delighted to welcome Paul and Rob to the board, who bring a wealth of experience and insight to the team.”

Mike Hayes, Investment Director at Mercia Technologies PLC, added: “nDreams continues to thrive within the VR market, a sector expected to be worth in excess of $30 billion by 2020. Its growing reputation as one of the UK’s leading developers and publishers of VR content demonstrates the significant progress that the company has made this year with many of the major hardware brands in this rapidly growing market. We are delighted to continue to back this industry-leading team.”

VRFocus will bring you further news on nDreams and its upcoming projects as it becomes available.

July 12, 2017

Investors Spent Nearly $1 Billion On Virtual World Creation Tools In Q2

Investors Spent Nearly $800 Million On Virtual World Creation Tools In Q2

Virtual world creation tools Improbable and Unity Technologies anchored investment in the AR/VR industry in Q2.

AR/VR adviser Digi-Capital tracked $800 million worth of investment in the industry throughout Q2. While that sounds like a lot, this amount was centered around two major technology builders. Improbable, which is building a cloud computing platform aimed at enabling the rapid creation of multiplayer games, raised $500 million in May. Also that month, Unity Technologies raised $400 million for its creation toolsets which are used to make interactive experiences across handhelds and consoles as well as VR and AR headsets. About half of the money Unity raised went to its employees.

Both companies remain at the forefront of VR’s push toward mainstream adoption, with Improbable heading in the direction of allowing millions of people to experience a virtual world at the same time while Unity works at the forefront of development that could allow anyone to build and shape virtual worlds using intuitive tools.

It isn’t unusual for a few companies to suck up most of the investment dollars in the emerging AR/VR industry, with Magic Leap usually being the recipient of enormous funding totaling around $1.4 billion to date.

Digi-Capital suggested that Facebook’s camera platform and Apple’s ARKit could shift investment toward mobile AR developers in the next quarter.

Correction: Post updated to describe Digi-Capital as an advisory firm.

Tagged with: Improbable, unity

July 12, 2017

inXile Entertainment Raised $4.5M And Is Now Working On An Open World VR RPG

The creators of The Mage’s Tale, inXile Entertainment, announced today that they’ve not only secured $4.5 million in funding from gumi Inc., but the investment is a combined total in the form of part equity in the company and part investment in the next VR game, which is based on an existing franchise. All we know about the game right now is that it’s an “open world survival RPG” VR game. This new game is not related to the new fully-funded Oculus game that’s in the works.

“We’ve had incredible feedback from our first [VR] game, The Mage’s Tale, and we want to continue to build on our experience and reputation. I’ve always been fascinated by the social dynamics of the open world survival genre and experiencing that in virtual reality will create powerful and terrifying moments. We’ll also be bringing our storytelling and RPG experience to the table to help enrich the genre,” said Brian Fargo, CEO, inXile Entertainment.

The Mage’s Tale has earned its reputation as one of the longest and most in-depth fully-featured VR games on the market so far. Since we know this new VR game is based on an existing franchise it could take place in that same universe again, but it would be even more exciting if it were a Wasteland VR game. The Wasteland series is one of inXile’s most popular and shares a lot of similarities to that of the Fallout franchise. Since we know this new game is open world with survival mechanics, it could certainly be the case.

Interestingly Fargo also mentions “social mechanics” and “powerful and terrifying moments” which reminds us of survival titles like ARK: Survival Evolved, H1Z1, and Rust — all of which certainly share thematic similarities to Wasteland. I’ve always been a proponent of those types of games getting more VR support. Fingers crossed that’s the IP they’re working on!

“Brian is a legend in the games industry, and inXile Entertainment has a track record for creating ground-breaking PC and console games that feel AAA in scope and size using their creativity, ingenuity, and ambition. Over the past year, they’ve brought in very talented and experienced members as they shift their strategy from single player to multiplayer online games as a service, and we look forward to seeing how they approach the space,” gumi Inc. CEO Hironao Kunimitsu, who is also now on the inXile Entertainment board. “Since breaking into VR, we believe they’ve already delivered the best VR RPG game to date with The Mage’s Tale. We’re honored to become a strategic investor and partner with inXile, and delighted for the opportunity to work together on the next VR title with such a masterfully skilled team.”

What do you think this new IP could be? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below!

Update: Added some clarifications at the beginning.

Tagged with: inxile entertainment

July 5, 2017

New York City Mayor Wants To Be The “Global Hub” For VR/AR With Newly Funded Lab

Coinciding with the growth of the augmented and virtual reality industries, there are tons of new job opportunities. New companies spawned by the tech will be welcoming new employees and established companies will be welcoming new faces as they tackle the new opportunities VR and AR afford their businesses.

In New York, the current Mayor has laid out a plan to create 10,000 jobs for middle-class citizens. As reported by bklyner, part of that plan includes a newly announced VR/AR lab that will be opening at the Brooklyn Navy Yard this year.

The project received $6 million in funding from both the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, with Mayor Bill de Blasio sharing a few words in the press release for the development. “Augmented and Virtual Reality represents a huge new industry, and we want New York City to be second to none,” he says. “We’re investing in the space, the talent, and the research needed to make New York the global hub for this emerging technology.”

The lab will be a partnership with CUNY Lehman College’s VR/AR Training Academy and Development Lab, preparing New Yorkers for inevitable jobs in the immersive fields. Taking such an initiative could position New York well as more industries that benefit from virtual and augmented reality sprout up.

The lab is part of the Mayor’s plan to create middle-class jobs in technology, life sciences, creative, and manufacturing industries over the next 10 years. The VR/AR lab, which will occupy a 15,000-square-feet at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, will generate roughly 500 jobs over that 10-year span after the targeted opening at the end of 2017.

“Equal opportunity and access, through education and job training, is the bedrock of our jobs strategy, and together we will continue to rise,” the Mayor added.

Tagged with: new york city

June 23, 2017

5 Impressive VR Companies From ViveX Batch Two Demo Day

This week we went to an HTC-hosted Demo Day for the second batch of ViveX funded VR and AR companies. With 26 different companies on display in San Francisco ranging from game developers, hardware manufacturers, utility creators, and everything in between there were a lot of different projects to try. Most of the companies were still in research and development phases as they sought additional capital for growth.

We got the chance to watch presentations from all 26 companies and try out several of the demos so we’ve put together a list of five (plus a bonus one) that we thought were particularly impressive:

Pop Match –

This is a new startup from Chip Sineni and Andy Kniaz, who were part of the team that created The Brookhaven Experiment at Phosphor Games. Their first project with Pop Match is Rushfire, a team-based competitive shooter that’s geared to be in the same vein as Counter-Strike. We’ve already seen successful indie projects along these lines such as Onward and Pavlov.

In the case of Rushfire though, what makes it most interesting is the Pop Match setup. Rushfire itself will be playable entirely for free with optional microtransactions within the game, but Pop Match is a tournament system that users will be able to pay entry fees to in order to play. Part of the fee goes to the company as profit and the rest goes into a prize pool, similar to other entry-fee based tournament structures. In this way when you win tournaments with Pop Match, you can earn actual money which democratizes the Esports scene a bit. We’re interested in watching how this does with a limited install base of Rift and Vive users.

ThermoReal –

Anyone that has tried VR knows how immersive it is to put on a headset and be surrounded by the sights and sounds of another world. But holding a hunk of plastic in your hand like a Vive wand, Oculus Touch controller, or gamepad just isn’t good enough when it comes to making you feel like you’re actually interacting with the game world.

ThermoReal from TEGway is aiming to change that with its conductive material that can instantly adapt to changing temperatures and actions within the digital environment. Becoming warm when something blows up is one thing, but it can also become cold quickly as well. It’s a concept we’ve even seen Facebook experimenting with too.

Limitless –

Creating VR content typically has a very high barrier to entry. The cost of development and skill bar that needs to be met is much higher than many other forms of creation. But that’s where companies like Limitless come in to make things easier than ever.

We’ve written about this company a few times in the past, such as how its founder, Tom Sanocki, went from working at Pixar to founding his own VR studio. This is definitely one of the ones to look out for when it comes to content creation.

bHaptics –

I’m not convinced that wearing a haptic suit is the answer to the issue of full immersion in VR. Having to jump through the hoops of setting up and wearing a VR headset is already cumbersome enough, so having to put on additional clothing and sensors and gear seems like a lot of work. However, that being said, if it’s of the quality that bHaptics is, then it could be worth it.

They’ve got sensors to outline the facepad of headsets, wristbands with vibrations functionality, and a full-torso vest you can wear over your actual clothes. It’s the most elaborate system I’ve seen and really does seem to make a difference. This isn’t an end-all-be-all solution by any means, but certainly represents a step towards more immersive VR.

Opaque Space –

We’ve seen a lot of space-based simulations in VR, but not many of them have support from and a partnership with NASA itself — Opaque Space does. Their platform, Earthlight, is being used to actually train the next generation of astronauts with accurate and realistic simulations.

Bonus Entry: Invrse Reality –

This one is just a bonus entry because the demo I tried was entirely embargoed and I can’t actually talk about it. The company description they used states: “This company aims to fuse physical and virtual reality. Our unique interface design and touch input will bring meaningful user experiences to your fingertips.” So, that’s all I can really say, other than it was really cool and I can imagine a lot of use cases for what they showed. They’re still in stealth so hopefully they fully announce soon.

And if the name sounds familiar it’s because this is the same company that developed the VR sniping game, The Nest.

Tagged with: Demo Day, ViveX

June 22, 2017

ViveX Demo Day Batch 2 Featured 26 VR And AR Companies

Today at an event in San Francisco HTC hosted a Vive X Demo Day for its second batch of funded company demos. The event featured 26 different companies ranging from game developers, enterprise applications, ease-of-use convenience tools, and a litany of other projects.

To date Vive X has funded over 60 different companies with over $100 million and aims to continue its expansion into Israel soon in addition to locations in the U.S., China, and more.

Make sure to check back tomorrow and later this week for more details, impressions, and thoughts on the companies that demoed. Below we’ve included summaries of each company featured at the Vive X Demo Day:

cognitiveVR – Provides 3D spatial analytics and user feedback tools for VR/AR, enabling organizations to quickly and easily display analytics on their users’ sessions and collect deep metrics on user behavior and feedback.

Construct Studio – A bilingual independent studio dedicated to creating interactive narrative experiences for VR. Construct has recently created their first interactive VR narrative “The Price of Freedom”, based on the real events of CIA mind control program Project MK Ultra.

HyperfairVR – A SaaS web-based social VR solution for enterprises. It allows businesses to self-build and easily customize their own branded VR environment, and quickly publish to multiple platforms to engage with customers and employees in VR via avatars.

Limitless – A cloud-based platform which aims to make it easier to create VR content. Using the Limitless VR Creative Environment, creators can animate characters directly in VR using motion controls, simplifying the animation process for newcomers and professionals alike.

Mindesk – Creators of the first immersive interface for commercial CAD software in the world. With Mindesk, engineers, architects and designers can build their models naturally in VR, while collaborating in real time in the cloud.

Realiteer – Develops and distributes immersive and evidence-based programs in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), which has been clinically shown to treat substance abuse, anxiety, and depression. It is working closely with world-class academic researchers to design and build these programs.

The Rogue Initiative – A new VR and Digital Media content studio, creating AAA cinematic interactive entertainment. The Rogue Initiative collaborates with established Hollywood talent to co-create and co-own new intellectual property in VR that can be further developed into various franchises.

Subdream – A social VR gaming studio founded by serial gaming entrepreneur Jikhan Jung. Subdream plans on releasing quality multiplayer games that can be played at VR arcades and at home.

Vertebrae – A native advertising platform for VR and AR. The headset-agnostic tech stack connects advertisers with developers and publishers to deliver immersive, native VR/AR/360 video advertising experiences.

Hexa – A company that’s changing the way we experience our planet by making it easy to create and scale 3D content. Hexa automatically converts 2D photos into 3D assets and enable online retailers to create virtual equivalents of their collections and display them online.

OVA’s StellarX – The best tool out there for non-programmers to develop their own VR environments in VR— through simple grab-and-drop creation.

Invrse Reality – This company aims to fuse physical and virtual reality. Our unique interface design and touch input will bring meaningful user experiences to your fingertips.

PlusOne – An AR + AI startup creating interactive intelligent human holograms which can be used by enterprises to train their employees to interact more effectively with customers.

Multiverse – A world-class VR studio founded by game industry veterans from places like Wevr, Disney, Riot, Ubisoft, Com2us, and CJ E&M. Multiverse is poised to create industry-defining content and help bring VR to the masses. Multiverse’s previous game, Reveries: Dream Flight, is one of the highest-rated VR games worldwide, and a top selling title on the Oculus Store.

Red Accent – A game creator with a strong track record developing games for console, PC and mobile. Red Accent is currently working on sports and adventure titles and is based out of Shanghai and San Francisco.

Byond – A cloud-based VR publishing platform empowering brands, media companies and agencies to create their own personalized interactive universe in VR. Using Byond’s tools, VR applications can be easily created and published across all platforms.

Aurora AR – A company with the goal to be the leader in augmented reality glass optics and device design. Our first product is an 135 degree field of view augmented reality glass which works under daylight, and is cost-effective for consumers.

BrokenColors – This company builds and integrates head-based sensing technologies that bring the users’ gaze, facial expressions, and mindsets into the virtual world. Our sensing technologies are creating a more immersive experience for VR users.

bHaptics – This company enables users to enjoy VR with visual, auditory, and haptic feedback. Our distinguished haptic devices and haptic authoring software are the ideal solution for conveniently adding appropriate haptic feedback to various VR content.

SoccerDream – A VR football (soccer) training technology that helps clubs and academies make their players smarter, and keep them highly motivated, just as the world’s top clubs do.

Opaque Space – A premier developer of consumer and simulation VR experiences. Opaque Space is developing the acclaimed VR game Earthlight and collaborating with NASA to develop VR training tools for the next generation of astronauts.

Snobal – This company builds VR Tools for businesses. Snobal’s tools empower organizations to easily create, manage and analyze their virtual reality environments, whether for design, collaboration or stakeholder engagement.

Memora – A global leading 360 degree camera manufacturer which provides a new way to communicate and archive moments in 360VR and AI.

Xikaku – Develops AR technology for applications in industrial and medical fields. Our first product, the X-Visor, is an analysis and visualization system allowing factory personnel do precise and efficient machine inspection using an overlay of real-time sensor data. Our systems provide a platform to dramatically enhance the capabilities and skills of human resources in mission critical applications.

Appnori Inc. – A sports-focused VR game development company, developing games such as baseball and table tennis, which can be enjoyed by all users regardless of age.

VRANI – Company intends to provide VR’s fantastic experiences to users by focusing on interactive VR characters. Through four core playing experiences, Easy-Play, Extreme-Play, Interactive-Play and Multi-Play, we create fun and easy casual VR content.

Tagged with: Demo Day, htc, ViveX