Today, AmazeVR announced it has raised $15 million, which was oversubscribed within three weeks. The virtual reality concert platform lets users experience their favorite artists’ concerts in VR with content creation tools.
Among the participants in the new financing were Partners Investment and Murex Partners, along with Smilegate Investment, Quantum Ventures Korea, ABC Partners, Everrich Group, GS Futures, We Ventures, Base Investment, and Dunamu and Partners. Previous backers Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Mirae Asset Capital, Partners Investment and Timewise Investment also took part in the current round.
As part of its plan to drive its rapid growth, AmazeVR plans to raise a Series B in early 2022. The company has raised a total of $30.8 million since its inception in 2015. The team at AmazingVR began in 2021 with only 12 employees, but now it has tripled in Hollywood and Seoul with 41 employees.
“We’ve been able to attract top talent from the [music, entertainment, tech and gaming] industries we touch,” Lee said. “This puts us in an ideal position to take full advantage of VR and the metaverse’s growing popularity, as we deliver breathtaking VR concerts from major artists, first to theaters, then to homes worldwide.”
Social media has given fans unprecedented access to their favorite artists, but a screen separates them from them. Through VR concerts by AmazeVR, fans can interact with their favorite artists face-to-face. The virtual concert would allow users to interact with each other and attend as avatars.
AmazeVR was founded by former Kakao executives JB Lee, Steve Lee, Jeremy Nam, and Steven Koo, with headquarters in Los Angeles and an office in Seoul.
Even before the pandemic, the company believed in the need for a more immersive music experience via VR concerts. However, the music industry was skeptical, mostly due to concerns about cannibalization of live concerts, their most lucrative revenue stream
AmazeVR found product-market fit quickly as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, which has accelerated adoption in the market.
With 3X Grammy winner Megan Thee Stallion, AmazeVR will stage its first commercial VR concert this spring at select AMC Theater locations across the U.S. Through years of R&D, the company created proprietary 9K cameras accompanied by software that automates complex visual effects (VFX) modules for VR concerts via its unreal engine and can run more than 100 headsets simultaneously.
