HTC’s new VR Venture Capital Alliance (VRVCA) seems to be a hit. It’s proved so popular that its first meeting has already had to be rescheduled.
We had heard that the first meeting for the new group, which is designed to provide a platform for startups to pitch to investors, was set for September 9th, in Beijing. Seeking confirmation, we reached out to Senior Global Online Communications Manager at HTC Corp, Jeff Gordon. He confirmed the date, but also told us that it was set to be moved, “Due to the large volume of submissions.” A new date should be confirmed soon.
The meeting is said to include members of the newly formed VRVCA, which was created by HTC Vive itself back in June and brings together a number of investment firms looking to provide support to startup companies working in VR as well as augmented and mixed realities. Based on that news, it looks like a lot of these types of companies have been applying.
The event will allow the VRVCA to lay out its business model, as well as invite the very first startup companies to showcase their projects and attract investment. There’ll be chances for networking and demoing too. Hopefully it won’t take too long for news of which startups successfully gained funding to hit.
The conference is just the latest in a string of moves from HTC to boost both investment and development in VR, which will theoretically give its HTC Vive headset a leg up along with the entire industry. Back in April the company announced a VR accelerator named VIVE X, designed to help companies working with the technology by offering expertise, work space, and investment opportunities. The first 33 companies to join the initiative were announced late last month and you can expect to see plenty more announced going forward.
The VRCA, meanwhile, was announced a few months later, and has around $12 billion in potential investment capital between its 36 firms. The group meets once every two months to review pitches from start up companies, with the next meeting scheduled to take place on November 4th in San Francisco. Going off of the announced schedule, that should mean the third meeting will take place next January back in Beijing, though that’s unconfirmed for now.
This is just the start of the VRVCA’s work, so there’s still plenty of time to compile your own pitch if you’re looking for some investment. You can submit a pitch via the official site.
