The Moscow-based investment firm FunCubator has invested 35 million rubles ($550,000) in PlatformaVR, a Russian VR-oriented game publisher. The deal was closed in April and publicly announced earlier this month.
The funding will be used to create new content as well as for PlatformaVR’s international expansion. The startup has “one of the strongest teams in creating visual effects,” believes FunCubator.
Already running three VR gaming areas in Moscow, PlatformaVR is preparing to open a fourth one in the Russian capital and, under plans, to penetrate the Western European and US markets.
Launched last year, FunCubator targets “in priority, but not exclusively” companies whose R&D teams are located in Eastern Europe.
“We believe that FunTech – an industry that helps people to spend their free time with bright emotions – is currently undervalued by VCs and should be one of the greatest beneficiaries of tech progress,” the firm states on its website.
“We’ve invested in about 20 companies so far, in just one year,” its Head of Analytics Almas Abulkhairov told East-West Digital News.
“Our portfolio includes three VR companies, an online video company, another one for audio/video content generation, an HTML5 gaming platform, a few eSports companies, an AI music company, as well as one that specializes in computer vision and machine learning.”
FunCubator is the venture investment arm of FunCorp, a company with Russian roots that develops technology products for entertainment. Launched in 2004, Funcorp has its headquartered in Limassol, Cyrpus and offices in Moscow, Batumi (Georgia), Kiev (Kyiv), Los Angeles and Sao Paulo.
The company claims “over 50 million downloads in the USA” for its flagship product, iFunny.
