Last month Jaunt announced it was shuttering its cinematic VR division in a critical refocusing of their core mission towards augmented reality, which brought with it lay-offs to a significant portion of their staff. Now, a Venture Beat report maintains Jaunt is looking for a buyer in hopes of alleviating some of the financial strain on the company.
Citing a source familiar with the matter, Venture Beat’s reports that one of the bidders is Spinview Global, a platform created for brands and companies looking to host their own VR and 360 content. Spinview, a London and Stockholm-based company, recently acquired VR communications app Agority.
According to the report, the company is in talks with multiple parties looking to acquire Jaunt’s IP.
Founded in 2013, and exiting out of stealth in 2014, Jaunt previously focused on producing high-quality 360 video in the hundreds, as well as a professional-grade 360 camera dubbed Jaunt One (formerly NEO).
Jaunt said back in October that they’ll be refocusing efforts on further developing technologies that allow for the scaled creation of AR content. This came shortly after the company acquired Personify’s ‘Teleporter’ volumetric video streaming tech and the engineers behind it.
The lay-offs haven’t effected Jaunt China, its Shanghai-based joint venture with Shanghai Media Group and China Media Capital, although at the time we were left wondering whether the bulk of their IP shifted would be shifted to the Shanghai-based branch.
Up until now, Jaunt has secured over $100 million from companies such as Disney, Sky, and Axel Springer, with its latest funding round in 2015 garnering the company $65 million.
