Smartphone manufacturer HTC has selected the first 33 startups to join its Vive X Accelerator program, which is focused on the virtual reality (VR) sector.
Vive X was unveiled in April 2016 with a $100m commitment and subsequently received approximately 1,200 applications from companies around the world.
The first cohort is made up of startups working in the areas of VR content and applications, enabling technologies, hardware and services. They will be spread across San Francisco, Beijing, Taipei and Shenzhen, with the latter having a strong focus on hardware.
While a press release has disclosed 23 of the companies, a total of 10 currently remain in stealth mode and have not been named.
The named technology developers are: entertainment-focused Action Bunker VR, 7D Vision and LumiereVR; gaming-focused Directive Games, Shortfuse, EdSenses, Omnigames, Metal Cat and Glowsticks Games; applications-related CleVR, appMagics, Teemew and SurrealVR; user interface and user experience-related BreqLabs; tools-related RockVR, Apmetrix, Fishbowl VR, Kaleidoscope VR, Immersv, Wondergate and ObEN; as well as education and medical-related Augmented Intelligence and TheMetaverseChannel.
The Batch-1 cohort will take part in a four-month program culminating in a presentation to potential investors. Applications for the second batch will open in November 2016, with Vive X already setting its sights on locations in Asia Pacific and Europe next year.
HTC also announced that several new partners have joined its Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance (VRVCA), launched in June 2016.
The funding initiative is now also backed by SoftBank Ventures Korea and Nvidia GPU Ventures, corporate venturing units of telecoms group SoftBank and graphics technology provider Nvidia, as well as Lightspeed China Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Presence Capital, Shanda Group, SOSV and ZhenFund.