Social VR app VRChat has secured $4 million in funding in its Series A investment round, led by HTC’s Vive group. VRChat has stated that HTC is now a strategic partner in the business, as well as its key investor.
VRChat is a social virtual reality space, similar to the fictional Oasis environment which features in Ernest Cline’s best-selling novel and soon-to-be-released movie adaptation, Ready Player One.
Users can create their own avatars—lifelike or otherwise—as well as building their own spaces for their friends to visit. VRChat also features purpose-built communal areas like The Great Pug, a pub-like meeting place, and hosts regular events like quizzes and panel shows.
VRChat CEO Graham Gaylor said:
“Our goal is to enable anybody to create their own social VR experiences. Because the team behind VRChat is entirely remote, they actually use the power of their own social VR platform as they expand it, calling the virtual spaces created within ‘their office’. For many of us, the first time meeting each other was at a real world event despite years working together in VR.”.
VRChat is compatible with any SteamVR-capable headset including the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and OSVR, and can be downloaded via Steam or Viveport.
