Viewpoints: November 2023 wrap-up

Welcome to this month’s curated digest of viewpoints, news and investment activity covering the Metaverse, XR and Spatial Computing - brought to you by FOV Ventures. And as this is the last newsletter of 2023, we wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This month we went to Slush, and had a fantastic time, as well as an exciting report we unveiled (among many, many other updates). Our current Entrepreneur-In-Residence, Tiago Correira, also deep dived into the evolution of Transmedia - settle in and have a read. We will also cover:

• FOV Ventures updates

• Portfolio news + hiring

• Funding and acquisitions

• Data points

We’ve got a lot to cover today, so let’s jump right in.

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

FOV Updates - Special Slush Edition

Slush was the best tech conference in Europe this year. And as it’s on home turf we really made the most of it!

• We unveiled our new report, “Investing Beyond The Metaverse - Slush 2023 Edition”

• We hosted a founders' dinner with Google, as well as our very first Minus One drinks at Allas Sea Pool;

• Starstuff came out of stealth on the main stage, and FOV Ventures is an investor;

• Doublepoint unveiled a new product that pushes the limits of human-computer interactions;

• We were excited to see the Finnish Metaverse Strategy launch at MatchXR.

So let’s break down all the things that happened.

Firstly we unveiled the “Investing Beyond The Metaverse - Slush 2023 Edition” report, which includes an analysis of the current Metaverse landscape, highlighting key growth drivers and future trends as well as market data points.

Secondly Starstuff made its debut at the event - with FOV Ventures as an investor, aiming to combat how we interact online to help minimise loneliness.

We were thrilled to host a founders' dinner with Google and hosted our first-ever ‘Minus One’ drinks at Allas Sea Pool, where we met a lot of our founders, investors, and friends. You can check out the photos and relive the memories here.

We also saw the launch of a new product from Doublepoint, a Finnish startup working on wrist-based gesture detection. The team unveiled the world's most advanced wristband controller; a device that's set to revolutionise human-computer interactions. The video does it justice:

Finally, we assisted with one more major report. Business Finland launched the Finnish Metaverse Strategy at MatchXR, crafted with input from over 400 industry, academia, association, and startup members. The strategy includes the 'Metaverse In Action' (MIA) action plans, featuring key initiatives and recommendations from Technology Enablers to Business Networks.

Whew! That’s a lot to cover, but there is still more to dip into.

Transmedia trilogy by Tiago Correira

Tiago Correira, our Entrepreneur-In-Residence, wrote a series of in-depth posts on Transmedia. ‘Transmedia’ underpins our vision of scalable, high-return content operations, leveraging tools like Scenario and M-XR to create engaging, enduring online worlds. This aligns with our vision for media's future: dynamic, accessible content that fosters community and connection.

Welcome to the third age, where the game has changed. Start with the first post - The Third Age of Transmedia - Part One. And read on from there! We’ll have a podcast to accompany the series coming soon.

Portfolio companies that are hiring

• RLTY is looking to fill several roles across the business.

• Move AI has two open positions, Product Manager and Product Design Lead.

• Atopia Space has two open positions as well: Junior Unity-Developer; Internship 3D-Design

• Starstuff is now hiring off the back of their launch at Slush

Funding and acquisitions

The biggest round of funding came for Rokid, who raised $112m in funding. The company makes AR glasses, and received a healthy bump to help with its expansion efforts. Then the biggest acquisition came from Aonic as it acquired nDreams - a VR game development studio - for $110m. (Compare this to AstroBeam, which specialises in VR multiplayer games, which raised $3m). Both announcements made waves in mainstream news as well as our industry.

Otherwise we saw a healthy uptick in investments for more industrial applications. Luminous Group, a virtual training platform, raised £1m in funding. Hololight, which makes VR and AR industrial solutions, raised $12m. And EnvisionVR, a proptech company specialised in VR, raised $2.58m.

On the more consumer side, Sleek - which focuses on web3 social networking - raised $5m. MyDearest, a VR development studio based in Japan, raised $7.8m. And MirrAR raised $1.75m to facilitate its growth in try-on tech. 

In other news, Vrgineers, creators of VR hardware, raised $6m in funding. Finally, SURGLASSES, which provides AR specs for surgeries, raised $6.5m.

Datapoints

• $700: The amount of money that up to 82% of social VR users spend on virtual platforms, according to a recent study.

• $30bn: The amount that Finland wants to surpass in metaverse industry turnover by 2035, according to its latest strategy.

And that’s everything! We hope to see you soon!

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

http://fov.ventures