Virtual reality (VR) concert platform AmazeVR lets users enjoy VR-based concerts of famous artists. The company makes this possible through an array of content tools. It recently announced receiving $15 million.
The latest funding round is being led by a collaboration of Partners Investment and Murex Partners, whilst the other participants include companies such as ABC Partners, GS Futures, Quantum Ventures Korea, Everrich Group, Base Investment, Dunamu & Partners, and We Ventures. In addition, there are contributions from others such as Timewise Investment, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Partners Investment, and Mirae Asset Capital.
The VR company has so far raised funding of more than 30 million dollars, since coming into existence back in 2015. According to a statement by its representative, the company has plans for an early 2022 Series B funding. Ernest Lee, AmazeVR Co-CEO, spoke to the technology news website TechCrunch, revealing that the company’s new funds would go towards hiring more employees. Lee said that the startup has already increased the sizes of its Seoul and Hollywood teams considerably.
Elaborating further, Lee said that AmazeVR has been successful in bringing in talented individuals from the tech, entertainment, gaming and tech industries. He stated that the company has thus become capable of harnessing the benefits of virtual reality and the metaverse becoming popular. AmazeVR is continuing its efforts to offer audiences the chance to view virtual reality-based concerts right from the comfort of their homes.
Fans can now enjoy performances from some of their favourite artists online, but the experience of just a screen is not enough anymore. AmazeVR VR concerts take the experiences to another level, where individuals can feel closer to the performers. This enhances the human factor and drives up realism. Users of such immersive experiences usually join in with their virtual avatars, can interact with others, and get a collective experience.
According to Lee, the company hopes to further enhance the experience, to a level where fans get more than just a virtual reality concert experience. With the new concept, they can be quite close and almost face-to-face with artists of their choosing. Lee emphasised that this is as close to reality as one can get virtually.
AmazeVR has its headquarters in Los Angeles and a Seoul office. It was founded by Jeremy Nam, Steve Lee, JB Lee, and Steven Koo, who all used to be executives at Kakao, a Korean messenger app. They had the vision of creating a company that would have a considerable impact on a global scale. They began their journey after a move to the United States and came up with AmazeVR in 2015. Although the company had been in the virtual reality technology domain for several years, three years ago it switched focus fully to virtual concerts.
The AmazeVR team had a vision for enhancing immersive musical experiences through virtual reality-based concerts. This existed even before the coronavirus pandemic, although the full potential was never realised then as live concerts were on in full swing.
But things have changed post-pandemic and the demand for immersive experiences has grown. With the music industry opening up to technological delivery avenues, VR concerts have achieved greater acceptance, Lee stated.
