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  • Viewpoints Episode #6: "Sneakers To The Metaverse"

Viewpoints Episode #6: "Sneakers To The Metaverse"

September 20, 2021

Welcome to this month’s curated digest of viewpoints, news and investment activity covering the Metaverse, XR and Spatial Computing. We're also super excited to share the latest episode of the Viewpoints podcast. If you'd prefer an audio-only version you can now listen on either Spotify or iTunes.

If you know of founders, investors or anyone else that would find this investment-focused digest useful then please pass it along!

Dave Haynes & Petri Rajahalme (FOV Ventures)

New Podcast: "Sneakers To The Metaverse"

Viewpoints Episode #6 features Aglet and Lakestar. As well as founding one of our favourite apps, Aglet founder Ryan Mullins is a deep thinker on topics ranging from culture to crypto to the Metaverse (check his own podcast Sneakers To The Metaverse). We were thrilled to join him in conversation with Ben Cousens, who takes care of all things gaming and crypto for leading multi-stage VC firm, Lakestar. In the episode we cover everything from the origins of Aglet and why sneaker culture is a great entry point into the Metaverse, to why some virtual economies may become bigger than physical ones.

Facebook vs. Bytedance

Fresh from Mark Zuckerberg's announcement that it wants to become a Metaverse company, not just a social media company, Facebook has announced its latest hardware, a pair of smart glasses designed in conjunction with Ray Ban. With two front-facing cameras and discrete speakers in the arms, these glasses are more comparable to Snapchat's previous Spectacles than the true AR glasses that many would have liked to have seen. But they certainly look good and this is another incremental step along the path to head-worn computing.

Meanwhile, Facebook now has another serious competitor to its VR ambitions, as Pico was acquired by TikTok's parent company Bytedance in a deal said to be worth $775m. Reactions to the news were mixed, with most seeing this as much needed competition to Facebook. Either way, it marks the entry of another major player into the VR market and gives Pico the long term resources it will need to expand its footing in the Chinese market and enter internationally with a more comprehensive consumer VR content offering.

Fundraising Round-Up

Humane raises $100m Series B from Tiger Global Management, SoftBank Group, Forerunner Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures. Humane has ambitions to build a new class of consumer devices and technologies that will represent “the next shift between humans and computing”.

Thirdverse raises $20m and names Gumi founder Hironao Kunimitsu as CEO. Thirdverse develops VR games such as Swords of Gargantua.

Tetavi raises $20m from Insight Partners to continue building out its AI-based volumetric video capture technology platform.

Urbanbase raises $11.1m in a Series B round. The latest funding will be used for enhancing its B2B SaaS, investing in R&D for advanced virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and 3D tools.

CareAR raises $10m from ServiceNow. The Xerox-backed company develops a platform that combines Xerox’s content management system DocuShare and multichannel marketing service XMPie with augmented reality tools for field service workers.

ByondXR raises $7m to build an immersive e-commerce platform for virtual shopping. The result is a 3D simulation in which online shoppers can browse from any device in a realistic and interactive manner.

ForeVR Games raises $7m. The studio is focused on bringing classic real world games—like bowling—into VR with an emphasis on social play. The round was led by Bessemer with Marc Pincus and Galaxy Interactive.

StatusPRO raises $5.2m seed investment and is using AR/VR to create immersive sports training and gaming experiences incl. a partnership with NFL quarterback Lamar Jackson.

Infinite Canvas raises $2.8m from Lightshed Venture Partners, BITKRAFT Ventures, Day One Ventures, etc. Infinite Canvas is looking to connect creators who craft content for the world’s most popular online games with the financial resources, tools and experience they need.

XR Games raises $2m to expand its studio and focus on original IP. The company has previously made movie tie-in games such as Zombieland and Angry Birds 2 VR.

Exits and M&A

Bytedance acquires VR headset maker Pico for a reported $775m. Pico's Neo range of headset caters for both the Enterprise and consumers and this marks another major player entering the VR market alongside Oculus, HTC, Sony etc.

Unity acquires streaming tech firm Parsec for $320m an important step toward Parsec’s and Unity’s expanded cloud vision and providing infrastructure to deliver real-time 3D experiences in the cloud.

Niantic acquires 3D scanning app Scaniverse, marking a continued push to build a 3D map of the world. Scaniverse is an iPhone/iPad app for scanning objects and environments in high-resolution 3D.

Roblox acquires Guilded a powerful Discord-like platform that connects gaming communities, including tools and features such as tiered voice chat, video chat, scheduling etc.

Tobii acquires Phasya. Tobii is one of the leaders in eye tracking and this deal gives them additional capabilities for monitoring physiological and cognitive states that influence human behaviour.

Vertigo Games acquires VR studio Force Field. This brings another VR studio under the ownership of Embracer Group and continues to the trend for acquisition and consolidation in the VR gaming market.

Qualcomm quietly acquires Wikitude providing them with dynamic AR technology.

Nextech AR acquires ARway giving them a spatial mapping platform critical to building the Metaverse.

InVeris Training Solutions acquires SURVIVR, a Dallas-based provider of immersive and virtual reality (VR) training solutions for military and law enforcement first responders.

Quick Links

Before we sign off for this month, here’s a few extra data points, news and opinion pieces we thought were worth a read:

That’s all for now. Enjoy what's left of September and please do send us your feedback, comments and interesting new startups in this space!