Top 20 VC Investors in Virtual Reality

Matt deCourcelle -

As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, we continue to see the very many ways of how technology can evolve. And one perfect example of a recent technology development that has attracted our attention is virtual reality.

Because of the fascination that people have with virtual reality, it is no wonder there is a demand for companies that deal with this particular technology. But starting a VR company is not a walk in the park, and if you’re planning on building one for yourself, you should need the help of an investor to succeed.

Luckily, there are venture capital firms that are prepared to invest in VR startups. Here are 20 well-known ones that you need to check out.

Top 20 VC Investors in Virtual Reality

Presence Capital

Presence Capital is an investment firm that backs talented and passionate entrepreneurs who are utilizing augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies to bring new and exceptional ways of communicating, working, and playing to the market.

The firm’s current fund is $10 million, and some of the companies they have helped include Baobab Studios, Byte, Harmonix, Scope AR, Uncorporeal, Escher Reality, The Rogue Initiative, TheWaveVR, Thalmic Labs, Isbit, and Strivr.

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The Venture Reality Fund

The Venture Reality Fund is a leading early-stage venture capital firm that invests in startups dealing with virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality industries. In particular, the firm aims to utilize these new technologies, together with artificial intelligence and 5G, for consumer, infrastructure and platform, hardware, and enterprise sectors.

A few well-known companies in The Venture Reality Fund’s portfolio include Beat Games, Doorstead, Rec Room, Embodied Labs, Apprentice, Replica, Wave, Virtualitics, Mindshow, Vantage Point, Artie, Proprio, Epic Games, and Interplay Learning.

Andreessen Horowitz

Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, is a venture capital firm founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in 2009. This firm strives to support entrepreneurs who are building the future through technology, and the technology companies they choose to back come from a wide variety of industries. Some of the sectors and industries that a16z focuses on are consumer, enterprise, bio/healthcare, crypto, fintech, and AR/VR.

Andreessen Horowitz aims to connect entrepreneurs, investors, executives, engineers, academics, industry experts, and others in the technology industry. As of right now, the firm has invested in 13 AR/VR companies.

Colopl Next

Established in 2015 in Japan, Colopl Next is an investment firm that supports Japanese startups specializing in AR/VR, entertainment, emerging technologies, and other internet businesses. Selected startups will receive guidance and knowledge from the Colopl Group in order to help their businesses grow and thrive.

Some of the companies that Colopl Next has in their portfolio are Fish Bowl VR, Fove, Limitless, Owlchemy Labs, Pinscreen, Polyarc, Psychic VR Lab, and Rogue Initiative.

Vive X

VIVE X is HTC’s global program to invest in startups that deal with VR, AR, AI, and 5G. This program provides programmatic support to chosen startups; in particular, startups will get strategic guidance, networked expertise, promotional support, fundraising support, and more services. Additionally, VIVE X will hand out investments of $100,000–$200,000 during the seed stage and Series A.

VIVE X has invested in several VR companies throughout the years. Some of these companies include Appnori, Aurora VR, bHpatics, Brokencolors, SoccerDream, TEGway, Vertebrae, and cognitiveVR.

Boost VC

Boost VC is an accelerator program that aims to make science fiction a reality. For that reason, they support founders who focus on sci-fi technologies, such as crypto, AR/VR, AI, human augmentation, space, and more.

After choosing the startups for the program, Boost VC will provide them with funding (around $500,000), discussions with guest speakers who are experts in the field, office space in San Mateo, California, access to resources, and a network of founders and investors.

Madrona Venture Group

Founded in 1995, Madrona Venture Group is a venture capital firm that invests in technology startups in the Pacific Northwest. The firm specializes in seed, Series A, and early-stage investments.

When startups become a part of the Mandora portfolio company, they will receive assistance from the firm every step of the way. Mandora will be sure to jump in to assist with fundraising, business development, strategic communications, and more services.

KPCB Edge

KPCB (Keep Pushing Cost Back) is a privately-owned site comprising a team of builders who are investing in seed-stage founders working on emerging areas of technology. In particular, the group primarily focuses on the following areas and sectors: virtual reality, blockchains, computer vision, drones, digital health, and mobile marketplaces.

According to the group, they spend two days each week investing in companies, and for the rest of the week, they build tools and products for the startups they are supporting.

Bertelsmann Investments

Bertelsmann Investments (BI) is Bertelsmann’s global venture capital arm that encompasses four funds: one in Asia, a separate one for India, one for Brazil, and lastly, a fund intended for digital media investments.

BI invests in startups from a broad range of industries and sectors, such as new and emerging technologies, fintech, e-commerce, and educational services. As of right now, the firm is continuing to expand their global network, and their investments have strengthened Bertelsmann’s activities.

BlueRun Ventures

Based in Menlo Park, California, BlueRun Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that supports founders and entrepreneurs who are pushing their industries forward. In particular, the startups they support are creating products and services that solve important problems in fintech, digital health, enterprise software, and consumer experiences.

Some companies in BlueRun’s portfolio are BlueCart, Blue Fever, Dyspatch, FreeAgent, Hello Heart, and Paystand.

Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance

Founded in 2016, the Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance (VRVCA) is a close-knit organization made up of 49 virtual reality investors. The main goal of this organization is to foster long-term growth in the VR industry, so they invest in startups that deal with virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality.

VRVCA has offices in Beijing and San Francisco, but their network spans the entire globe, so they are willing to accept startups no matter where they are based.

SOSV

SOSV is a multi-stage venture capital investor intended for founders who have big ideas for positive change. This VC has several funds, namely HAX (hardware and connected devices), IndieBio (life sciences), Chinaccelerator and MOX (cross-border internet and mobile in Asia, and dlab (blockchain, data, and decentralization).

Aside from funding, SOSV also provides a network of hands-on engineers, designers, accountants, and scientists to speed up product development. As of right now, SOSV has funded over 1000 startups, and they are looking to fund more in the near future.

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Shasta Ventures

Shasta Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that backs enterprise startups in various industries and sectors, such as SaaS, cybersecurity, infrastructure, data intelligence, and camera vision.

Shasta has been in the industry for over 15 years now, and throughout this time, they have helped countless startups by providing them with resources and assistance during their individual journeys. The firm has also had several groundbreaking startups in their portfolio, such as Anaplan, Zuora, Nest, Nextdoor, SendBird, Tonal, Lattice, Glint, and Highspot.

Telstra Ventures

Backed by Telstra (one of the world’s largest telecommunications providers) and HarbourVest (one of the largest global private equity funds), Telstra Ventures is a strategic venture capital firm that invests in market-leading, high-growth technology companies with exceptional products. This firm is also one of Australia’s largest capital funds.

Telstra Ventures will provide synergy revenues to their portfolio companies, and since 2011, the firm has invested in 70 companies.

Keytone Ventures

Founded in 2008, Keytone Ventures is a China-focused venture capital firm that invests in transformative ideas for the increasingly interconnected global economy. In particular, the firm is looking to partner with founders in emerging industries who have innovative technologies and business models.

As of right now, Keytone is managing $420 million in capital, and the firm’s team has extensive vertical expertise and solid operational experience.

Anorak Ventures

Based in San Francisco, Anorak Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that is focused on frontier technology. In particular, the firm’s specialty areas are virtual reality, artificial intelligence, robotics, computer vision, stagnant industries, and emerging markets.

Anorak looks for startups and entrepreneurs who have a strong interest in niche subjects pertaining to the fund. The startups should also create products that push the boundaries of technology and solve complex problems that we face.

A few companies in Anorak’s portfolio are Rec Room, Gridware, Catalog, Advano, Waste Hero, Adventure Lab, and Antara Health.

NFX

NFX is a seed and Series A venture firm that aims to back founders who are striving to reinvent industries with their products and services. Throughout the years, NFX has built ten companies with more than $10 billion in exits across multiple industries.

A few well-known companies that NFX has funded throughout the years are Lyft, Patreon, Doordash, Trulia, Poshmark, Houseparty, Honeybook, and Mammoth Biosciences.

IVP

IVP is a later-stage venture capital that is dedicated to helping rapidly-growing technology and media companies. Ever since the firm’s inception in 1980, IVP has funded over 400 companies, and 124 of them have gone public.

After choosing the companies to support, IVP then helps the founders navigate hyper-growth and scale their businesses. Some of the companies in the firm’s portfolio are Aiven, Aledade, Amplitude, Anomali, App Annie, Appdynamics, Attentive, Brex, Buddy Media, Business Insider, Casper, Checkr, Circleci, Coinbase, Fight Camp, Dream Games, Giphy, and Groundtruth.

Pathbreaker Ventures

Pathbreaker Ventures is a pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in specialized startups building unique technology and IP in emerging areas of computer science. In particular, the firm’s focus areas include robotics, deep learning, reinforcement learning, computer vision, natural language processing, natural language understanding, computational biology, and AR/VR.

Pathbreaker’s portfolio contains the following companies: Addressable, Drifter, Visby, Beyond View, Biobot Analytics, Catalog, Cinchapi, Diligent Robotics, Edify, Esper, and many more.

B37 Ventures

  • Website: http://b37.vc/
  • Twitter: Not available
  • Invest Amount: $100,000–$3 million

Based in Silicon Valley, B37 Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in technology startups at multiple stages (Series A, B, and C). The firm’s primary goal is to create unrivaled relationships and opportunities between the most transformative and top tech entrepreneurs.

Over the years, B37 Ventures has invested in several companies. Some of them are Parsable, Dexterity, Proxy, Perfect Day, Clara Foods, Clear Labs, Foxtrot Systems, and Perfect Day.

Conclusion

Considering the rising trend of the AR/VR industry, it’s only a matter of time before AR/VR products take over the world. To achieve this milestone, we need more companies that deal with AR/VR, and if you’re starting one yourself, then you need to have an investor by your side to fund your endeavors and help scale your business.

The 20 venture capital firms mentioned above are only some of the most notable investors willing to support AR/VR companies. You can start your search of potential investors with this list, and if you like a particular VC, you should consider contacting them and applying to their programs. You can also look for more AR/VR investors if you want.

Long story short, the road to success for your company is a long one. But if you have an investor on your side, the journey would be a lot smoother and faster, and you’ll get to your end goal in no time.