VirZOOM, makers of VR arcade exercise games and the VirZOOM Bike Controller, announced the successful closure of a $5.5 million seed funding round which the company says will help expand its commercial business worldwide with a second generation of its VZ Module and VZ Sensor, a retrofitting kit for stationary bikes that turns them into VR controllers.
Investors include Skywood Capital, with personal investments from partners at Eastham Capital, Fairhaven Capital, and Equity Resource Investments. Co-Founder and CEO Eric Janszen is the largest single investor. New investors include Greycroft partner Jon Goldman through his GC VR Gaming Tracker Fund. The Tracker fund is focused on VR, AR, eSports, and game start-ups.
VirZOOM (pronounced ver-ZOOM) started selling its VZ Arcade fitness games in June 2016. After expanding into China with the help of Chinese VR headset manufacturer 3Glasses, VirZOOM later announced in summer 2017 an expansion into the commercial gym market worldwide in a partnership with Life Fitness, the fitness equipment company.
“VirZOOM is skipping past the early adopters to bring VR to mass market customers through cardio exercise motivation. The company is making actual sales, shipping products commercially for a year and a half and forming commercial partnerships with major fitness equipment companies like Life Fitness, who can help VirZOOM scale,” said Jon Goldman, investor and founder of the GC VR Gaming Tracker Fund.
VirZOOM’s game suite supports Gear VR, Rift, Vive, PSVR and Windows VR headsets. Games include bespoke multiplayer games like traditional cycling, horse racing, F1 racing, tank battles, and even flying on the back of a pegasus. Competitive and cooperative matches can be played by up to 8 players, including head-to-head challenges and time attacks.
