Today, California-based interactive advertising platform Immersv announced the successful completion of a $10.5 million Series A round of financing, led by venture capital fund Rogers Venture Partners. This marks a positive step for the company, and another indication of the incredible (and unavoidable) potential of VR monetisation.
With its inherent ability to engage the viewer, VR technology is relevant to a broad range of businesses, and inevitably, VR advertising, particularly if it is interactive, can be far more effective than traditional approaches. Immersv, who have run successful advertising campaigns with brands like Nissan and Mountain Dew, claim their 360 degree and VR videos ‘view-through’ rates (the equivalent of a click-through on a traditional ad) is 85%.
“Immersv is the leader in the next wave of interactive digital advertising,” said Mr. Sestili, General Partner with Rogers Venture Partners, who has joined the board of directors at Immersv. “Mobile 360 and VR advertising provides some of the highest view completion rates, click through rates, and overall engagement rates for both brands and performance advertisers. As the central marketplace for buying and selling these new ad formats, Immersv is well positioned to drive significant value for both advertisers and publishers.”
These impressive metrics are bolstered by the new funding, which involves several other strategic investors, including Foundation Capital, The Venture Reality Fund, Initial Capital, East Ventures, HTC Vive, MCJ Co. Ltd., GREE, i-mobile, Metaps, and Gigi Levy.
“We’re excited to partner with some of the finest institutional and strategic investors in the world,” said Mihir Shah, President and CEO of Immersv, Inc. “While the mobile video market continues to grow, we believe interactive advertising experiences will displace the current video advertising market in the next few years providing better results for advertisers, higher yield for publishers, and a significantly better experience for consumers.” Shah spoke about the platform’s potential – and the unique challenges of creating VR ads that aren’t obnoxious – on the Voices of VR Podcast last year.
According to the press release, Immersv has enjoyed significant positive momentum over the past year, “having recently signed programmatic deals with more than 15 of the world’s largest Demand Side Platforms and Supply Side Platforms.” Partners now include Tremor Video, YuMe, Bidswitch, ironSource, Supership and United in Japan.
Immersv will use the funds to “accelerate product development and deployment, rapidly expand its available inventory through direct Publisher as well as SSP integrations, and bring global brands and performance marketers into Mobile 360 and Virtual Reality.”