US-based virtual reality game developer Survios secured $50m in funding led by entertainment studio MGM yesterday, which VentureBeat has reported was spread across two rounds this year.
Although the precise amounts raised in each round were not disclosed, VentureBeat reports the earlier round was led by Lux Capital and included Dentsu Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of marketing firm Dentsu, Shasta Ventures, Danhua Capital, Shanda Holdings and Felicis Ventures.
Founded in 2013, Survios develops VR games, its flagship game being Raw Data, a sci-fi action title that runs on the HTC Vive headset. The funding will support the establishment of a game development and publishing platform intended to incorporate third-party titles.
Gary Barber, MGM’s chairman and CEO, has joined the board of Survious and the company may seek to leverage MGM’s intellectual property and entertainment properties as it grows. MGM invested in interactive video technology developer Interlude in October 2015.
Nathan Burba, chief executive of Survios, told TechCrunch: “We definitely want to see location-based entertainment networks expand as much as possible.
“That is a very important way to introduce people to the medium and then to be able to generate extra revenue on top of the retail releases we are doing.”
The funding follows a $4m series A round closed by Survios in mid-2014 that was led by Shasta Ventures and backed by Felicis Ventures and World Innovation Lab.