Global mobile social company Gree has launched a $12m fund to invest in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) companies.
Managed by San Francisco-based GREE VR Capital, LLC, the GVR Fund will work with strategic investors to give gaming and non-gaming software and content startups the opportunity to accelerate growth.
To date, the fund has invested in two companies:
– VRChat Inc., a platform that allows users to create, publish, and explore VR worlds with users around the world, and
– Spaces, Inc.
In addition to Gree, Colopl VR Fund and mixi are also Limited Partners of the fund.
Established in December 2004, Gree operates businesses including social gaming, social media, advertising, licensing and merchandising, and venture capital. It today is a global leader in free-to-play, reaching audiences around the world with its portfolio of first-party and partner titles.
The company, which has studios in Tokyo, San Francisco, Berlin and Melbourne and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (3632), has already worked in the virtual reality space having showcased its first VR title – Sarah and the Viper’s Crown – at the Tokyo Game Show in 2015 and launched GREE VR Studio, its internal VR production studio in November 2015.
The first game from the studio, Tomb of the Golems, a shooter VR game that takes players on an epic journey through Egyptian ruins, will launch in April and will ship soon at the Gear VR Oculus Store.
FinSMEs
13/04/2016