In a new video from HTC, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang speaks about his growing interest in the virtual reality space — an interest that is backed up by millions of dollars in investment.
Yahoo is a Silicon Valley giant and the man who unleashed it is Jerry Yang, Yahoo’s co-founder, and former chief executive officer. After departing Yahoo fully in 2012, Yang led Ame Cloud Ventures to invest in technology companies. Through Ame (pronounced “ah-may”) Yang has become a mentor to scores of startups while also transforming into one of the Valley’s most notable financial backers.
Yang’s previous bets at Ame, and as an individual, include Evernote, Curbside, Wattpad and Tango. He has become something of a kingmaker in the entrepreneurial scene and so his stated interest in VR should be taken as a stamp of approval that could mean big things for the burgeoning field.
In the video, Yang says of the VR industry that “it’s a really exciting space. Not just for VR but for a whole lot of other applications…Content clearly is the one that is now front and center.”
This is more than just talk from a true tech-world legend. These words are being backed up by significant financial action on Yang’s part as well.
Ame invested in a $25 million investment round in Wevr – a VR content company that is also working on a full-scale digital distribution platform for immersive content. Additionally, Ame’s most recent investment went toward a $6.6 million round for a startup called Nanit. Nanit’s focus is in computer vision – a key component for a number of applications, including both augmented and virtual reality.
VR is just starting to take flight in the world but, as trendy as it may be right now to support it, having significant valley muscle like Yang’s is still a vital part of helping this newly airborne industry truly begin to soar.
