Emergent VR, A Smartphone-Based VR Video Capture And Viewing Startup, Raises $2.2 Million
Emergent VR, a startup that promises full video capture that can be viewed on virtual reality headsets like the Gear VR, has raised $2.2 million from Accel Partners, Rothenberg Ventures and Google Ventures.
Emergent VR’s play is that it can build a simpler experience for users who want to capture video that can be viewed through VR devices. The three Emergent VR demos Wilkins showed me indicated that there would be some element of live video capture as part of the service. The goal was to make it a more seamless user experience than “setting up 20 GoPro cameras” when it comes to capturing VR-optimized video, he said.
One of the big selling points of the company is that the entire capture is done through a smartphone, Wilkins said, which is then shared to Emergent VR’s network.
“We did some tests, and we were able to create a really compelling experience using just content from the smartphone,” he said. “It takes a lot of work to get there, with what we can do with algorithms to make that automatic. We want to just make it a seamless app that people can download, and bring it out of the realm of professional video capture.”
Wilkins was mum on the capture technology, so it remains to be seen whether it works.
This is also Accel Partners’ first investment in a virtual reality startup.
See the full story here: http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/15/emergent-vr-a-smartphone-based-vr-video-capture-and-viewing-startup-raises-2-2-million/?mc_cid=c1edb09e1f&mc_eid=cd6a4d9ecf