GREE VR Capital, the investment firm backing startups such as VRChat, TheWaveVR, and Littlstar, today announced the completion of its first immersive media fund, totaling $18.3 million in allocated funds. Previously called GVR Fund, the company is now changing its name to GFR Fund as it prepares for a second fund later this year.
The fund has invested in 17 early stage companies over the course of its two-year existence, primarily in the North American VR/AR/MR market. According to a press release provided to Road to VR, the fund will be “actively seeking AR and MR startup companies for investment with a particular focus on mobile AR platforms, AR Cloud, consumer AR applications, and enterprise AR, including AR glasses.”
GREE VR says the team is continuing with its focus on helping U.S. startup companies looking to reach out to Japanese investors and market leaders. The name change, the company says, broadens the fund’s scope to more than just VR, putting more emphasis on ‘frontier technology’, a term intended to encompass VR/AR/MR.
“GFR invested in our Series A round and has been instrumental in helping our company grow both in the U.S. and Asia,” said Tony Mugavero, co-founder and CEO of VR video streaming platform Littlstar. “They brought us to Japan in 2016 and introduced us to nearly a dozen accredited investors, helped us secure Sony and others as new investors, and lined up a speaking engagement for us at the Japan VR Summit. The connections and visibility that GFR was able to bring to us has been critical in making Littlstar the success that it is and has afforded us the opportunity to expand into new markets.”
To date, the GFR Fund has invested in 17 companies, including VRChat, SPACES, Sliver.tv, Littlstar, Insidemaps, YBVR, Immersv, Experiment 7, TheWaveVR, Sturfee, InsiteVR, Streem, DottyAR, Upload and Torch3D. In addition to GREE, Colopl VR Fund, mixi, Inc., Maruhan, Yahoo Japan and Akatsuki are among Limited Partners (LPs) of the fund.