preface:
The wave of computers that began in the 1990s brought disruptive changes to human production and life, ushered in an explosive increase in the speed of information transmission, and then we experienced an era of transition from PCs to smartphones.
At present, this iteration and transition is still not over, and the emergence of VR/AR headsets is expected to relay smart phones in the future, open the second computer technology civilization, and drive all-round improvement of productivity.
Thanks to the rapid development of VR/AR technology, the popularity of consumer-grade VR headsets is also rising rapidly, the entire industry contains huge business opportunities, and all kinds of capital have begun to accelerate into the VR/AR industry, so that the entire industry is in a stage of rapid expansion, and various investment and financing events are emerging in an endless stream.
In view of this, Sina VR has launched a monthly global VR/AR financing event inventory feature to help relevant practitioners keep abreast of industry dynamics.
Overview:
According to incomplete statistics, as of February 10, 2022, there were a total of 12 global VR/AR investment and financing events this year, including 2 domestic financings, all of which were tens of millions of yuan financing; a total of 10 foreign financing events, the highest financing amount was 50 million US dollars completed by Yahaha Studios, followed by AVATAAR and Mojo Vision with 45 million US dollars.
From the perspective of the type of financing enterprises, this year's financing enterprises are still mainly software manufacturers or platforms, and there is almost no financing for hardware manufacturers, the reason is still as said before, vr/AR hardware pattern has been initially formed, and latecomers can only seek breakthroughs from the software side.
1. Company/brand: Hangzhou Li Weike Technology Co., Ltd
Funding date: January 6
Financing amount: tens of millions of yuan angel round financing
Company direction: AR technology tide brand and the same name virtual person IP
Investor: ByteDance
Introduction: Hangzhou Li Weike Technology was established in October 2021, creating an AR technology tide brand named "Li Weike" and a virtual IP image of the same name. Up to now, the company's largest shareholder is Ru Yi, with a shareholding ratio of 48%; Beijing Quantum Yuedong Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of ByteDance, holds 20% of the shares.
2. Company/brand: Shanghai Haiyuan Information Technology Co., Ltd
Funding time: January
Financing amount: tens of millions of yuan A round of financing
Company direction: General Medicine XR surgical simulation platform
Investor: GSR Venture Capital led the investment, and Licheng Assets followed the investment
Introduction: Yuyuan Technology is a national high-tech enterprise dedicated to the research and development of intelligent virtual training products, combined with VR, AI, big data and cloud computing and other technologies, engaged in the design, development and promotion of intelligent virtual products, providing users with professional and advanced products and solutions. The existing product line covers intelligent traditional Chinese medicine, nursing and midwifery, rehabilitation and pension, basic medicine, smart education and other directions, with a wealth of medical knowledge system applications, providing one-stop online and offline combined medical training solutions, the products under development include XR surgery training platform and supporting simulation equipment. Domain Circle Technology has a strong XR technology research and development strength and innovation ability, independent research and development of multi-person holographic interactive products Holomax, virtual reality software platform RapidVR and other products are widely used in education, medical, national defense, industrial and other fields.
3. Company/Brand: Nextech AR Solutions
Financing amount: $10 million
Company direction: AR solution provider
Investor: Unknown
Headquartered in Vancouver, Nextech AR Solutions is a Canadian company that provides AR solutions for e-commerce, AR learning applications, AR video conferencing and virtual events. Last August, Nextech AR Solutions acquired British spatial computing company ARway Ltd for about $1 million in an all-stock deal, and Nextech said the acquisition of ARway would help it develop a spatial mapping platform, a vital element in building a metacosm.
4. Company/Brand: VIRNECT
Financing amount: $30 million Series B financing
Company direction: Industrial XR solution provider
投资方：STIC Ventures、Lotte Ventures、KTB Network、KB Investment和KDB Investment Bank
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, VIRNECT aims to provide a range of industrial XR solutions through innovative AR and digital twin technologies, from remote collaboration to facility digitization and monitoring. According to the company, it has completed more than 100 projects and implemented solutions with several enterprises, including LG Chemical, Samsung Electronics, and others. It also serves companies in the Korean public sector, including the Korea Airport Corporation and the Korea Electric Power Company.
5. Company/Brand: Yahaha Studios
Financing amount: $50 million
Company direction: Meta-universe game creation platform
Investors: 5Y Capital, HillHouse, Coatue
Founded in 2020 by veterans of Unity, Microsoft and EA, Yahaha Studios provides game developers with a full suite of modular features including art assets and editing tools, allowing developers of all experience levels to create profitable metaverse games based on the platform, and also comes with a social component to support users to share their creations on multiple social media. The company is currently building a whole new platform for developers to make immersive games.
6. Company/Brand: AVATAAR
Financing amount: $45 million
Company direction: digital e-commerce 3D marketing
Investors: Tiger Global Management led the investment, Sequoia Capital India followed
Introduction: Founded in 2014, Avataar is a 3D marketing company for digital e-commerce, focusing on providing 3D AR visualization solutions for retail e-commerce, and its platform can transform into a 3D content experience that is easier to share on social platforms through 2D photos and videos, based on AI systems, including 3D digital showrooms, 3D virtual shopping experiences, etc., which will help enhance the online shopping experience.
7. Company/Brand: AmazeVR
Financing amount: $15 million
Company direction: VR virtual concert platform
Investors: Partners Investment and Murex Partners jointly led the investment, and Smilegate Investment, Quantum Ventures Korea, ABC Partners, Everrich Group and others participated
Brief introduction: AmazeVR was founded in 2015, headquartered in Los Angeles, USA, set up a branch in Seoul, South Korea, has been developing VR technology, and at the end of 2019, the business focus will be fully shifted to VR concerts, mainly through content creation tools, connect fans and singers, to provide fans with a new virtual music experience, the current cumulative financing reached 30.8 million US dollars. At the same time, preparations are underway for Series B funding in early 2022.
8. Company/Brand: Mojo Vision
Company direction: AR contact lens manufacturers
Investors: NEA, Liberty Global Ventures, Advantech Capital, AME Cloud Ventures, Dolby Family Ventures, Motorola Solutions and Open Field Capital
Mojo Vision devices provide performance data and real-time statistics to data-conscious athletes such as runners, cyclists, gym users, golfers, and more through Mojo Lens's intuitive hands-free, eye-controlled user interface. Its invisible computing technology can naturally superimpose images, symbols, and text onto the user's natural field of view without obstructing their line of sight, restricting movement, or hindering social interaction. In this way, the team hopes to be able to meet the performance data access needs of athletes and sports enthusiasts.
9. Company/Brand: Alta
Funding date: January 27
Funding amount: $12.4 million in seed round financing
Company direction: VR RPG game developer
Investors: Makers Fund, a16z led the investment, Pioneer Fund, Boost VC, muru-D and Thomas Rice followed
Founded in 2016, Alta is an independent VR studio focused on open-world online multiplayer VR content development, headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Its "A Township Tale" was released in 2016, previously independently released by Alta, compatible with PC VR platforms such as SteamVR and Rift, and later ported and debuted on Quest, and once topped the Oculus list.
10. Company/Brand: HIKKY
Funding date: February 8
Financing amount: 500 million yen
Company direction: virtual exhibition
How to pitch: Media Do Co., Ltd.
Summary: Founded in 2018, Japan-based Hikky is best known for its "Vket" series of events, a virtual marketplace where exhibitors can market and sell real and virtual goods to attendees. Its virtual events attract more than 1 million visitors and attract exhibitors from major brands such as HP, Tencent, Bandai Namco, Audi, as well as independent creators selling virtual goods.
11. Company/Brand: MORAI
Funding date: February 10
Financing amount: 20 million US dollars for series B
Company Direction: Developer of virtual test solutions for autonomous driving systems
Investors: Korea Investment Partners, KB Investment, state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), Naver's D2 Startup Factory, HYUNDAI Motor Group's ZERO1NE, Kakao Ventures and Atinum Investment
Morai was founded in 2018 by three co-founders, Jung, Jun Hong, and Sugwan Lee, to build an autonomous driving simulation platform that enables self-driving car manufacturers to simulate real-world test drives. MORAI provides full-stack autonomous vehicle simulation solutions, and the company's technology automatically converts high-definition map data into digital twins, providing a large-scale virtual simulation environment for autonomous driving systems.
12. Company/Brand: Invact Metaversity
Funding time: February
Financing amount: Tens of millions of dollars in seed round financing
Company Direction: Immersive Learning Experience
Investors: Kishore Biyani (Future Group), TV Mohandas Pai (Manipal Global Education), Dr. Ritesh Malik (Plaksha) and Kirthiga Reddy, among others
The company is an education technology company combined with the "metacosm" with a recent valuation of up to $33 million, and the company is founded by Manish Maheshwari, the former head of Twitter India, who left twitter last December and officially founded the current company that advocates applying the concept of metaversity to the education field. Invact Metaversity is currently launching a 16-week metaMBA programme with a total cost of INR 200,000 (approximately $2,680). This course will be taught in May this year. From the perspective of product services, the company uses VR virtual reality and other methods to apply to vocational skills learning, marketing, product management and other education and training.