Wave, a social VR music platform that hosts virtual concerts and live performances inside virtual reality, has raised $30 million of Series B funding. They’ve raised $40 million to date.
Wave’s funding is split up between a wide assortment of companies. According to VentureBeat:
“Maveron led the new round, with a big chunk of the funding provided by Griffin Gaming Partners. Additional investors in the round include NTT DoCoMo Ventures, Avex, Superfly Ventures, Convivialite Ventures, and Raised in Space. Entrepreneurs Scooter Braun, Alex Rodriguez, Superfly cofounder Rick Farman, and Twitch cofounder Kevin Lin also participated in the round.
Wave’s existing investors include RRE Ventures, Upfront Ventures, the Venture Reality Fund, GFR Fund, and GC Tracker Fund.”
Recently, Wave announced a series of virtual concerts under the “One Wave” name featuring acts like John Legend and will allow performers to create their own digital avatars similar to VRChat characters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU85PP_x-o0
Another popular way to experience live music events in VR is through livestream footage in virtual stadiums, like Oculus Venues. Big artists such as Billie Eilish have performed in Oculus Venues with mixed results.
“You can put on a headset and listen to Coachella live, but no one wants to do that,” Phil Sanderson said, managing director at Griffin Gaming Partners, one of Wave’s latest investors . “The only way to do this is to capture the emotion of the crowd, which is effectively what Wave does by creating an interactive experience. It’s so much better — if you were watching Travis Scott in Fortnite, it would be so much better if you could see his facial expressions and interact with him in real time.”
For context, Sanderson was the first investor in Pandora and also invested in Song Pop and is an frequent attendee at music festivals.
For more insight into how Wave got started, check out our feature story from 2016 on the founding of the company and its early experiences in VR. And for more on Wave and what’s coming up next, check out the app on Steam, Oculus Home, or the company’s official website.
