Presence Capital’s announcement of an inaugural $10 million AR/VR fund today comes after the company has already made a number of investments in the space, including Harmonix (creators of Rock Band), Baobab Studios, and investments in unannounced companies.
The fund’s announcement is further validation of the virtual reality market’s rise from fad potential to legitimate market.
Among the partners of the fund is Phil Chen, HTC’s chief content officer of the Vive, who is said to be the “founder” of the Vive project, having brokered the partnership between Valve and HTC. The two other partners of the fund are Amitt Mahajan, co-creator of FarmVille and former Epic Games engineer, as well as Paul Bragiel, an entrepreneur, investor, and early advisor to Uber and Unity, among others.
“We believe there’s a gap in funding at the early-stage level mostly given the VR and AR markets haven’t been clearly defined yet. Now the market is becoming primed it’s important that the startups entering the market are providing value, have room to be creative and can help the global community fully explore what is possible,” said Chen in a press release from the company.
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Presence Capital is welcome to being contacted by those “creating something transformative using VR or AR.”