vTime, the social VR platform, today announced the closure of a $7.6 million (£5.4 million) Series A funding round led by Deepbridge Capital with included investment from Liverpool, UK-based institutional loan and equity provider MSIF.
vTime founder and CEO Martin Kenwright says the investment will “accelerate global growth and product development, and fuel R&D for the brand’s augmented reality (AR) experience coming later in the year.”
“The advent of consumer AR at scale is allowing us to use decades of expertise to develop another unique way to connect and engage with friends and family in alternate realities,” says Kenwright. “Crucially, Deepbridge share our vision for the future – both in delivering a matchless social XR experience and our expansive plans to monetize and build upon the vTime framework with future technologies.”
According to the developers, vTime has had “almost a million downloads” since launch in December 2015, something the company can claim thanks to its many platforms; vTime supports Oculus Rift, Windows VR headsets, Google Daydream, Gear VR, Google Cardboard, as well as non-VR modes through both respective Android and iOS apps. You can find links to all of those here.
The app itself is organized similar to non-VR social platforms; vTime allows you to create a profile, chat with friends and family, and even discover new friends by browsing by common interests or languages. vTime also puts an emphasis on sharing both 360 and conventional ‘flat’ images. It (of course) comes with a pretty robust avatar creator so you can create your own unique you.
vTime’s core development and management team tallies over 40 people in both its UK Liverpool headquarters and in the USA.
