HTC Vive invested in Immersv’s virtual reality (VR) advertising platform, the California-based company announced on Friday, adding that the first round of funding in its history saw it raise $10.5 million which will be used for improving its offering and maintaining its operations while it continues on its path toward global success. Apart from HTC, the startup was also backed by Foundation Capital, The Venture Reality Fund, GREE, and Initial Capital, among others. The company’s Board of Directors received two new members as a direct result of the series A funding round it concluded earlier this month, with Immersv confirming that Gumi Chief Executive Officer Hironao Kunimitsu and Rogers Venture Partners General Partner Paul Sestili have now officially joined its board.
The startup revealed that it will use the new resources to improve its VR marketing platform but didn’t provide more details on the matter. The current version of Immersv’s offering is already relatively advanced in terms of analytics, providing advertisers with detailed engagement stats, including heat maps of areas that draw the attention of consumers. The advertising industry is likely to find such data invaluable as it should help it optimize its creations for maximum impact and Immersv is looking to position itself as the leading company in this segment going forward. The firm didn’t provide a breakdown of its first funding round and it’s currently unclear how much did HTC contribute to the aforementioned figure.
HTC has been committing significant resources to VR in recent years, with its Vive headset being one of the first commercially available head-mounted displays advertised as offering a high-end experience. The Taiwanese original equipment manufacturer previously suggested that it sees VR as an industry with massive potential that’s here to stay, which is why it’s adamant to support it with both hardware and software, as well as financial investments. While this emerging segment has been growing at an increasing pace in recent years, the cost of premium hardware and a general lack of high-end software is still holding it back, some industry watchers believe. HTC is now looking to address those issues as they arise and is presently also working on a standalone VR headset powered by Google’s VR platform Daydream.