Survios, the VR development studio behind the Vive title Raw Data, has announced a whopping $50 million in funding to further expand its VR content offerings. The new round makes the company the most funded pure VR development studio to date.

Survios’ announcement today is actually an announcement of two individual funding rounds together totalling $50 million. Back in 2014, the company had raised a $4.2 million Series A investment, with a reported Series B investment in October of 2015, though the round size and other details were never disclosed. Today’s announcement appears to lump together that older Series B investment and a newer Series C investment; the company hasn’t broken down the sizes of each round, but has announced that together they total an impressive $50 million. Now with some $54 million in raised capital, Survios is the top funded pure VR development studio to date.

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The former round (which we presume was the company’s Series B), was led by Lux Capital with participation from Shasta Ventures, Danhua Capital, Shanda Holdings, Felicis Ventures and Dentsu Ventures, according to Survios. The more recent Series C was led by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM); as part of the investment, MGM’s Chairman and CEO Gary Barber joins Survios’ board of directors.

The interesting investment by MGM, whom most will recognize for their movie production and publishing work—including major films like The Hobbit trilogy—is described as “strategic” and aims to make use of MGM’s iconic IP.

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Survios CEO, Nathan Burba

With the sizable investment, Survios says they’ll also pick up a publishing role, planning to “add third party titles to its slate and to expand distribution into international venues.” The new funding puts the company “in a position to achieve our goal of becoming the leading publisher and content creator in virtual reality,” says Nathan Burba, CEO of Survios.

In addition to publishing, Survios plans to extend their VR content offerings to “entertainment centers around the world,” with a likely first target being China where high end VR is thriving in the out-of-home ‘arcade’ setting.

Survios’ first (and so far only) VR title Raw Data [our review] made its debut as an Early Access release in July. According to the company, the game earned $1 million in revenue in its first month, a substantial figure for the burgeoning VR game market.

bishop-charge-shot-raw-data-ealy-accessThe company’s announcement says the funding will also be used to “expand” the Raw Data universe, “including support for cross-platform play,” which sounds as if the Survios plans to bring Raw Data to platforms other than the Vive. We’ve reached out for clarification.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • hyperskyper

    Raw Data is overall my favorite Vive game that I’ve played so far. The main thing that I don’t like about it is how challenging the levels are if you play alone. The only way to unlock all of the abilities of the characters is by beating all levels with each one. I have not gotten past the third level and I believe the total number is twelve! I can only use two of the three characters with three unlocked abilities for the two. The game would be a lot more fun if there was a way another way to unlock all characters and abilities. I highly recommend the game if you haven’t tried it yet!

    • ummm…

      you aren’t ready. you need to hit the gym and eat only fruits and nuts before you have the physical ability to beat each level solo. ive closed my company and train every day for 6 hours before entering raw data and handing out the pain. my girlfriend left me. my parents wont pick up the phone. my bills are unpaid. but i’ve beat those darn robots.

  • DiGiCT Ltd

    China as target, good luck, they cant easy enter the market here, China market in a way is closed, you need to know people in China and go throught them to be able to deploy here.
    Sorry Ben you are wrong on this. HTC can offer all the paper work and requirements needed to maybe be able to release your game in China, but this will cost you 50% of you sales revenue.
    Besides that 50 million investment for VR gaming company is outrages, its a huge debt they are not able to pay back in a short term.

    • Raphael

      “the game earned $1 million in revenue in its first month, a substantial figure for the burgeoning VR game market.” <<

      • JJ Guerrilla

        If they can maintain that $1 mil per month or more for a 5 year term payback, then after five years they will be solvent. This of course, doesn’t take into consideration operating costs, market research for new markets etc. in addition to any other hidden fees in the terms.

  • hazdude

    Does anyone else think a $50 million investment into a company that’s made one game is a bit risky? It’s great for VR devs but considering Raw Data was a smash game that there’s no guarantee of repeating, and how there are already established content distributors in China (Viveport), I’m not quite sure how they plan on breaking into that market. Exciting either way to see more money coming in for VR

    • DiGiCT Ltd

      You are right.
      But you can see the dude is rather still a young guy, he might just not know what he really stepped into.
      As soon as you get investments there are also payback terms attached as they dont invest without making profits.
      As i stated below there is no way you can make more as 50 million back within a few years at this moment with a VR game.
      RAW data is not that bad, but it is also not that good, its an OK game.
      Viveport is indeed in China i can confirm that and so is steam !
      Opening his own arcade in china is impossible, he only could be an investor or shareholder for it, but you will not control the business.
      This article metion China is absolutely wrong as you should know how things go here, I am livin in China since 2007 and can tell you things are not that simple and easy here as you think they are ;-)