Aiming to become a hub for AR and VR development, the government of China’s Jiangxi province says it plans to raise funds totalling $460 million to be invested into AR and VR companies.

Last week the first ever World Conference on VR Industry event was hosted in Nanchang, the capital city of Jiangxi, China, which reportedly attracted 2,000 attendees. The event was sponsored by the province government’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Hoping to attract VR and AR companies, talent, and general interest in the technology to Nanchang, the government announced during the event plans to raise $460 million across several funds for investing in VR and AR.

According to our friends at Yivian, a VR news publication based in China, the capital will be split between a $28.8 million VR/AR industry angel VC fund focused on incubation, a $144 million parent fund, and a $287.9 million industrial investment fund aimed at toward the AR/VR enterprise space.

Some strings are attached—as the funds are ultimately designed to make Nanchang a hub for AR/VR development and talent, the funds will likely require that any investment recipients have some portion of their business based in Nanchang.

SEE ALSO
Meta Forced to Furlough After Chinese Lead Backs Out of New Investment

Nanchang isn’t the first Chinese city to seek to establish itself as a hotbed for this technology. Earlier this year HTC and Shenzhen (in China’s Guangdong province) announced a $160 million joint fund focusing on VR investments.

Newsletter graphic

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. More information.

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."