Welcome to this month’s viewpoints, news and investment activity covering the Metaverse, XR and Spatial Computing - brought to you by FOV Ventures.

This month, we are out and about! Petri is in Austin at SXSW (Mar 8–16), and Dave is in SF at GDC (Mar 18-22) - if you are at either event, come say Hi!

This Month:

• A call to female founders looking to raise their first VC funding.

• How are Metaverse technologies actually being used.

• What it’s like giving 50+ Apple Vision Pro demos!

Dave Haynes, Petri Rajahalme and Sointu Karjalainen (FOV Ventures)

FOV NEWS:

Announcing DVRSTY #3:

We are launching our third DVRSTY program! We have now proudly backed two previous DVRSTY participants, and are excited for our third edition alongside AWE and WIIT.

The DVRSTY program offers a structured series of opportunities designed to support female founders and female-led startups in Europe.

🤝 To support DVRSTY please share our LinkedIn post to your network!

We’re entering an era of more intelligent and more immersive computing, where technology should reflect the richness of human experience. And it should be built by a more diverse set of founders than the last.

Yet women remain underrepresented at all levels, particularly in leadership and funding opportunities. So DVRSTY seeks to bridge this gap by offering targeted support to female founders and female-led startups across Europe, focusing on areas where innovation is key but gender diversity is lacking.

We're inviting female founders and female-led startups based in Europe to apply.

You can read more about the programme and its previous successes here.

We are opening up applications now HERE - deadline is April 4th.
Ideal candidates are seeking their first VC funding in areas including Spatial Computing, Generative AI, Realtime 3D or Gaming Tech. And could be B2C, B2B or Developer focused.

March Events: LinkedIn Live sessions featuring founder stories across various funding stages.

April: Exclusive access to private sessions with industry leaders and investors, including partnerships with entities such as Google, node.vc, and FOV Ventures.

May: Hosted by FOV, selected startups will showcase their innovations to a global audience of investors and industry leaders.

June: A chance to win a travel voucher and entry to AWE USA 2024, alongside a universal 20% discount for all applicants.

Mentorship Program: The initiative includes personalised mentorship sessions with experienced professionals and investors, focusing on guidance, strategy, and industry insights, beyond mere pitch preparation.

Impact:

Past participants, such as Annabel Vacano of Atopia Space, have successfully leveraged the DVRSTY platform for growth, investment, and visibility.

DVRSTY Spotlight Session:

Hosted by Sointu Karjalainen from FOV, the "DVRSTY Spotlight" series provides an in-depth look at the journeys of founders, offering insights into their experiences and practical advice.

Sign up for the event here

This event is designed for aspiring founders, current entrepreneurs, and investors looking for new opportunities, offering a chance to gain valuable insights, engage in meaningful discussions, and possibly find inspiration for the next big idea.

David Ripert joins FOV as EIR:

David brings a tonne of experience in technology, including roles at Google/YouTube, where he led EMEA production, programming, and community initiatives, with a focus on VR experimentation. He also co-founded Poplar Studio, a renowned, VC backed AR start-up, and he is now the President of the UK chapter of the VRARA.

We will have David breakdown some of our key investment trends for 2024, and this month David looks at the Industrial Metaverse.

For many, the metaverse and immersive tech are about entertainment and socialising. But some of those visions seem a way off.

David, takes a different approach, and look at what is actually happening today… and it might not be what you think.

From virtual twins making airports smarter to digital cities and factories of the future, we look at the future of industry proving the Metaverse is far from dead.

Our Apple Vision Pro Event in London

Our first #SpatialLDN meetup with Innovate UK Immersive Tech Network was an awesome evening of technical discussions and new connections.

We put over 50 people through their first Apple Vision Pro demo. It was cool to see lots of WOW factor moments - even among a group of VR veterans - many of whom have experienced many generations of headsets.

Despite the headset not being released yet in Europe - very few have access to a device, there is still a lot of interest for developers to be building for the Vision Pro.

We were joined by Antonia Forster from Unity who broke down how to develop for the Apple Vision Pro, and how it differs from traditional XR development.

Other key discussions included David Solari of Soul Assembly (makers of SoulSpire) sharing insights on the straightforward process of launching apps on the Apple Vision Pro's app store, contrasting with experiences on other platforms. Jonathan Hale from Wonderland Engine also touched on developing WebXR apps for the Vision Pro, indicating a promising avenue for developers.

We want to keep the conversations going, and get more people access to the demo so… We're now looking for venues and sponsors for meetup #2 in London - let’s us know if that’s you! Plus, stay tuned for something similar in Helsinki!

FOV Portfolio News:

• Doublepoint in TechCrunch! - They were live at MWC demoing their latest product launch! - The gesture-touch control app, which already has around 30,000 downloads by Samsung Galaxy users since its CES debut, allows users to control devices like headsets, phones, and computers through wrist-based gestures.

• ai|coustics seen in the wild at MWC

• Paris Hilton and Roblox!? Since 2021, Paris Hilton has launched two Roblox experiences, introduced new brands to the platform, and pioneered the future of immersive marketing campaigns. GEEIQ break it all down in their upcoming webinar alongside Vogue Business and 11:11 Media. Sign up here!

FOV Job Board:

• Iconic AI has 7 new positions open, across game development, art and design

• ai|coustics has 2 positions open 

• Atopia Space has 2 positions open

What a Month!

It’s been a hectic in our world’s since the release of the Apple Vision Pro, and we’re looking forward to see what developers are building for it!

In 2024 so far, the median sized round of an AR/VR/3D startup raising is between $2M to $4M (source: Crunchbase), which indicates healthy seed activity heading into the release of the Vision Pro.

Also since Apple’s release, Meta have announced a partnership with LG, aiming to integrate Meta's platform with LG's content and services to create a new XR ecosystem. While it isn’t clear exactly what the two companies plan to build, rumours are a next-gen Quest Pro 2—to compete more directly with Vision Pro—could be on the cards.

We have also seen two big AI unveilings.

OpenAI has now announced Sora, its AI engine for converting text prompts into video. Think Dall-E (OpenAI’s text-to-image generator), but for movies.

Elsewhere, Google DeepMind has released Genie, an image-to-video AI model that can generate interactive games from images or sketches. It has the potential to empower game developers and offer cost-effective prototyping.

While nowhere near the high image quality and polished presentation of Sora, Genie is an impressive model. It also prompts questions about the human role in the development process and the future of game marketplaces like Steam. But, Generative AI will seep more and more deeply into 3D, abstracting away complexities. The end state here: tools that allow us to create robust 3D worlds with simple text prompts.

Zooming out for a moment, we see innovation across every content format. Creative tools bring AI into images and videos, avatars and voices. If this has piqued your interest we previously did a deep-dive on the state of AI in Gaming here.

Dave Haynes, Petri Rajahalme and Sointu Karjalainen (FOV Ventures)