GVR Fund Raises $18.3 Million, Investing in Seventeen Augmented Reality (AR) And Virtual Reality (VR) Startups
Changes Name of Fund to GFR Fund
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- GREE VR Capital, LLC., investors in such popular startups as VRChat, Sliver.tv and Littlstar, today announced it has completed its first VR/AR/MR fund with a total commitment of $18.3 million. The fund was established in April 2016, and upon completion, the fund name will change to GFR Fund as it prepares for a second fund later this year.
One of the early investors in VR/AR/MR, the GFR Fund has invested in 17 early stage companies in less than two years, primarily in the North American VR/AR/MR market. Going forward, the fund is actively seeking AR and MR startup companies for investment with a particular focus on mobile AR platforms, AR Cloud, consumer AR applications, and enterprise AR, including AR glasses.
The Principals of the GFR Fund are experienced investors in frontier technologies and have decades of experience working in the Asian market. The team will continue to leverage this knowledge base to help U.S. startup companies wishing to gain traction among Japanese investors and market leaders. The name change reflects the Fund's commitment to supporting more than just VR but frontier technology leaders across the entire AR/MR/VR market.
"GFR invested in our Series A round and has been instrumental in helping our company grow both in the U.S. and Asia," said Tony Muravero, co-founder and CEO of Littlstar, a VR content network and one of GFR's portfolio companies. "They brought us to Japan in 2016 and introduced us to nearly a dozen accredited investors, helped us secure Sony and others as new investors, and lined up a speaking engagement for us at the Japan VR Summit. The connections and visibility that GFR was able to bring to us has been critical in making Littlstar the success that it is and has afforded us the opportunity to expand into new markets."
"We are committed to providing the expertise and guidance needed to help our portfolio companies interact with other investors, and drive strategic partnerships with U.S. and Asian corporations that can help them grow and succeed," said Teppei Tsutsui, CEO and Managing Director of GREE VR Capital. "We believe that the AR market, especially mobile AR, is finally ready for consumers in 2018 with Google's ARCore and Apple's ARKit enabling developers to create killer contents. In addition to consumer AR, we are also interested in enterprise applications such as AR Cloud, navigation, advertising, social media, and consumer content via smartphones or AR glasses."
About GFR Fund
The GFR Fund, formerly named GVR Fund, is an $18+M venture capital fund that works with strategic investors to give early-stage virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) companies the opportunity to accelerate growth. The fund is managed by San Francisco-based GREE VR Capital, LLC., an affiliate of GREE, Inc., a global leader in mobile gaming industry, and is led by CEO Teppei Tsutsui. To date, the GFR Fund has invested in 17 companies, including VRChat, SPACES, Sliver.tv, Littlstar, Insidemaps, YBVR, Immersv, Experiment 7, TheWaveVR, Sturfee, InsiteVR, Streem, DottyAR, Upload and Torch3D. In addition to GREE, Colopl VR Fund, mixi, Inc., Maruhan, Yahoo Japan and Akatsuki are among Limited Partners (LPs) of the fund. For more information visit www.gfrfund.com.
Press Contact:
Karen Blondell
U.S. PR for GFR Fund
424-263-7371
[email protected]
Susan Lusty
U.S. PR for GFR Fund
[email protected]
GREE and the GREE logo are registered trademarks of GREE, Inc. All other trademarks are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE GFR Fund
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