US-based virtual reality animation startup Baobab Studios has completed a $25m series B round backed by a raft of media and entertainment-oriented firms.
The round included media companies Twentieth Century Fox and Shanghai Media Group, mass media group Comcast, consumer electronics manufacturers Samsung and HTC, and Youku Global Media Fund, a subsidiary of online video platform Youku Tudou.
Venture capital firm LDV Partners and Evolution Media Partners, the investment fund created by talent agency CAA and private equity group TPG, also participated in the round.
Founded in 2015, Baobab is developing animated VR content and its first offerings revolve around Invasion!, a series of short animated interactive films, the first of which is narrated by actor Ethan Hawke. The second is slated for release in 2017.
Baobab will use the funding to develop additional films and grow its business. It has appointed Larry Cutler, formerly DreamWorks Animation’s head of character technology, as chief technology officer, and added Chris Milk, CEO of VR content platform Within, to its advisory board.
The round comes after Baobab raised $6m in a December 2015 series A round led by Comcast’s corporate venturing unit, Comcast Ventures.
Samsung’s corporate VC subsidiary, Samsung Ventures, also participated in the series A round, as did HTC, digital media company Chernin Group, Advancit Capital, Box Group, and angel investors Peter Thiel and Mark Pincus.
– Invasion! still courtesy of Baobab Studios