Jaunt, a startup that specializes in creating virtual reality content, announced on Monday that it’s raised a major new venture capital round of $65 million.
The Series C round was led by the Walt Disney DIS +0.97% Company, China Media Capital, TPG Growth, Participant Media, and Evolution Media Capital, which is back by Hollywood talent agency Creative Artists Agency. Existing investors participated — Google GOOGL +1.05% Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Highland Capital and others.
The round brings Jaunt’s total funding to more than $100 million.
Jaunt sells everything creative professionals need to put together non-gaming virtual reality (VR) content — what the company calls “cinematic VR.” The Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup makes a high-end camera with multiple lenses for capturing video in 360-degrees (and it costs some tens of thousands of dollars). It also develops the software that pieces together the multiple camera feeds into a special file, which can then be viewed on any VR headset or smartphone.
Jaunt has around a dozen partners it’s working with to create VR footage. Most recently, it partnered with ABC News for a tour through Damascus, Syria. Jaunt also has its own production studio in Los Angeles, Calif. The studio is run by former Lucasfilm CTO and Digital Domain CEO Cliff Plumer.
With the $65 million cash infusion, Jaunt will expand its Palo Alto office as well as the Los Angeles studio. But the round was really about strategic partnerships, especially with Disney, said Jens Christensen, CEO and cofounder of Jaunt.
“If you look at the history of Disney, beginning with cartoons, they’ve always been at the forefront of technology,” Christensen said. “They’ve always tried to make the experience more powerful and more immersive. They view VR as the next step in entertainment.”
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Source: Forbes