• TechCrunch AmazeVR desires to scale its digital live performance platform with $17M funding

AmazeVR, a Los Angeles-based digital live performance platform, mentioned Tuesday it has raised a $17 million funding spherical to create immersive music experiences via digital actuality (VR) live shows.

Like different industries, the leisure sector was affected by the coronavirus lockdown. Many music artists needed to cancel or push again their stay occasions in the course of the pandemic. Some artists and music businesses have shifted to digital or on-line live shows to compensate for these canceled occasions. AmazeVR is betting that digital reveals, which have develop into in style amongst artists and followers for the reason that pandemic, are going to take over the leisure business.

Mirae Asset Capital led the Sequence B spherical together with returning backers, together with one other Mirae Asset Monetary Group subsidiary (Mirae Asset Enterprise Funding), CJ Funding, Smilegate Funding, GS Futures and LG Know-how Ventures. New strategic buyers — Korean leisure big CJ ENM and cellular sport maker Krafton — participated within the newest spherical.

“The digital actuality leisure business is rising quickly, and we imagine that music and gaming are two of probably the most promising sectors for future improvement,” mentioned a spokesperson at CJ ENM.

AmazeVR co-CEO Steve Lee mentioned that his startup plans to make use of the financing to broaden partnerships with artists and their administration businesses, labels and publishers. He added that it’s at present in talks with potential companions to work with prime artists within the U.S.

The startup is making ready digital live shows and a music metaverse service that might be out there throughout all main VR app shops and work with next-generation headsets such because the Meta Quest Professional and Apple’s personal rumored VR headset, Lee continued.

The Sequence B funding spherical comes within the wake of the startup’s three way partnership announcement with Ok-pop company SM Leisure in July. Each corporations plan to launch Studio A in South Korea and produce immersive VR live shows.

“We’re additionally making ready to supply digital live shows with SM Leisure artists and broaden to different Ok-pop corporations in South Korea,” Lee mentioned. “We plan to rent extra synthetic intelligence engineers, [Epic Game’s] Unreal Engine engineers, and visible results (VFX) artists” to proceed the development of its expertise and the event of premier digital live shows.

The corporate’s purpose can be to broaden content material variety with a view to carry extra VR live performance followers all over the world.

The AmazeVR crew traveled to fifteen U.S. cities this summer season for its first industrial digital live performance, Enter Thee Hottieverse, a tour with rap icon Megan Thee Stallion via AMC Theaters. Lee informed TechCrunch that the corporate had about 75% attendance charges for its live shows, about 4.3 instances the common theater occupancy fee estimated at 15%-20%. The ticket costs had been $20-$25, ~2.5times costlier than the common movie show ticket worth (~$9.17).

“CJ ENM plans to transform live shows and music TV reveals to VR music experiences with AmazeVR’s prime expertise, and extra authentic content material resembling dramas and films sooner or later to maximise their content material worth and enterprise alternatives,” the spokesperson of CJ ENM mentioned.

The final time TechCrunch coated AmazeVR was earlier this 12 months when it secured $15 million. Its Sequence B spherical brings the startup’s whole quantity raised to roughly $47.8 million. The Los Angeles-headquartered startup with places of work in Seoul now has 62 members on its crew.