Platforms continue to lead the charge in VR funding as InstaVR lands a $2 million series A investment led by The VR Fund.
InstaVR aims to offer dead-simple VR app creation, allowing non-developers to easily piece together 360 degree photos and videos into simple branded experiences, then publish to a broad range of VR platforms.
The company’s newly announced $2 million Series A funding comes on the heels of InstaVR launching three major clients: Smithsonian American Art Museum, AECOM, and transcosmos Inc. While many platforms are still in the pre-content creation phase, InstaVR is capitalizing on the growing trendiness of VR and this round of funding—while not announced to be specifically allocated to a particular goal—should allow InstaVR to continue to promote and push their product to diverse array of industries that can create content from their market.
The announcement notes that through the InstaVR publishing platform, the Smithsonian now offers one of the world’s largest collections of art made in the United States through an immersive 360-degree app experience.
“InstaVR offers us a simple to use yet powerful creation tool,” said Carlos Parada, Information Technology and Media Producer of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Users can install the free app on iOS and Android to try the InstaVR experience for themselves.
By contrast, AECOM utilizes InstaVR to publish VR training modules for display on Samsung’s Gear VR, build immersive VR for community development meetings to allow the public to experience projects prior to voting on them, and other efforts. Smithsonian’s art gallery may be beautiful, but AECOM’s usage could be closer to what we’ll experience with the InstaVR platform if it continues to gain footholds in the enterprise market.
With the selection of these three initial partners, InstaVR has displayed that their product is potentially appealing to a broad range of industry’s looking to leverage VR, whether that’s a big box store, a fast food chain, or an art gallery. InstaVR should be well positioned to capitalize on these non-standard VR entrants.
The VR Fund’s investment also continues to accentuate their broad-ranging interest in the VR space. With investments in Owlchemy Labs, Silver.tv, Spaces, and Visionary VR, they’re well-positioned to continue to drive funds to marketplace leaders, whether that’s in gaming, general entertainment, or broader VR platforms. With a $50M total in their warchest, look for a few more investments by The VR Fund throughout this year, possibly striking into more non-entertainment categories.