Oben, a US-based personalised avatar development platform backed by several investors, has received $10m in funding from K11, part of retail, real estate and infrastructure group New World Development.
Founded in 2014, Oben has built an artificial intelligence-powered platform that creates personalised avatars for customer service purposes. The avatars are stored securely on an encrypted blockchain ledger and are intended to mimic the sound and appearance of the user.
K11’s investment will be used to launch the blockchain system, and for further product development. Oben also plans to partner entertainment group and existing investor SM Entertainment to create celebrity AI avatars through a joint venture called AI Stars.
Oben has now raised at least $23.7m altogether, including $7.7m from a late 2016 series A round led by CrestValue Capital, an investment arm of conglomerate Dunan Group, which included SM’s Dream Maker Entertainment subsidiary.
The round also featured Third Wave Digital, Cybernaut Westlake Partners, Idealab, angel investor Gordon Cheng and Leaguer Venture Investment, a VC firm formed by Research Institute of Tsinghua University, in China.
Oben raised an undisclosed sum in March 2017 from SB Next Media Innovation Fund, a fund run by telecommunications firm SoftBank through its SoftBank Ventures Korea subsidiary, before internet group Tencent led a $5m round featuring private investor Li Ruigang four months later.
The company is also listed in the portfolio of HTC Vive X, a virtual reality accelerator created by consumer electronics firm HTC.