VirZOOM closes $5.5M Seed Funding Round

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Existing and new investors filled the company's initial Seed Round up to the authorized $5.5M level.

Previous and new investors filled the round including 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 included Greycroft partner Jon Goldman through his GC VR Gaming Tracker Fund. The Tracker fund is focused on VR, AR, esports, and game start-ups. Greycroft is a limited partner in the fund.  

VirZOOM started shipping its VZ Arcade virtual reality fitness game suite commercially in June 2016. In 2017 the company expanded into China with Mandarin language content for PC VR distributed via WinMR HMD maker 3Glasses. December 2017 VirZOOM announced expansion into the commercial gym market worldwide in commercial partnership with Life Fitness, the world's largest commercial fitness equipment company.

The round is intended to fund the company to expand its commercial business worldwide with 2nd generation products VZ Module and VZ Sensor that make any stationary bike VZ-Ready for VirZOOM VR Fitness content.

VirZOOM was co-founded by veteran game architect Eric Malafeew and finance and technology industry executive Eric Janszen. Malafeew, with Virginia Tech undergrad and MIT graduate engineering degrees led major successful video game projects for HMX including Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Dance Central following robotics and flight simulation engineering roles in the defense industry. With a passion for bike riding Janszen brings a mix of experience to the project including CEO of venture-backed companies, sales and product management executive roles, patent authorship, market analysis and forecasting, and writer for business publications including Harvard Business Review.

"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.

"We welcome our new investors and are pleased to see many previous investors participate as well, some for a fourth addition to their previous investments," said Co-Founder and CEO Eric Janszen. "Their continued confidence in our project is greatly appreciated by the team."

About Tracker

Tracker is a vertically focused investment fund dedicated to supporting seed stage companies across the VR, AR, video game and e-sports sectors. The fund is managed by Jon Goldman, a Greycroft Venture Partner, and leverages his network and Greycroft's early-stage investment expertise and infrastructure to offer value to early-stage companies innovating in these spaces. Tracker is independent of Greycroft's family of core funds but counts Greycroft, a leading venture capital firm focused on investments in the Internet and mobile markets, as an LP and close business partner.

About VirZOOM

Co-founded by CEO Eric Janszen and CTO Eric Malafeew in February 2015 and VirZOOM is the world leader in VR Fitness with a proven content platform for consumer and commercial applications. VirZOOM VR Fitness content is available for all major tethered and mobile VR platforms. VirZOOM motivates consumers to exercise on average for 38 minutes per session 3.25 times per week. VirZOOM's customers have since June 2016 collectively traveled more than 250 thousand virtual kilometers and burned more than 4.4 million real calories.

SOURCE VirZOOM