A Los Angeles and Austin, Texas-based startup which dubs itself a ‘Virtual Reality music platform’ has secured $2.5m in seed round funding.
TheWaveVR says it’s building ‘the world’s first social VR music platform’, set for launch later this year.
Investors in the round included well-known VCs such as KPCB Edge, Presence Capital, Rothenberg Ventures, RRE Ventures, The VR Fund, Seedcamp and others.
Angels investors included Mike Fischer (ex-CEO Square Enix North America, pictured inset) and Joe Kraus (of GV, formerly Google Ventures).
Anjney Midha, founding partner at KPCB Edge, said: “TheWaveVR is building music experiences that can only exist in virtual reality.
“They’re giving musicians superpowers they’ve never had before, and allowing listeners to experience performances in ways that have never been possible.”
The company has also added David Wexler (aka Strangeloop) and Dave Haynes (ex-of SoundCloud, pictured inset) as advisors.
Wexler is an audio-visual artist and founder of Strangeloop Studios in Los Angeles, CA, and has worked with Flying Lotus, Skrillex, The Rolling Stones and more.
Haynes, currently on the investment team at Seedcamp, was formerly a VP and part of the early team at SoundCloud, helping the company grow from launch to the world’s leading online audio platform.
“This platform will forever change the music industry.”
Amitt Mahajan, Presence Capital
Amitt Mahajan, founding partner at Presence Capital, said: “We’re excited to help them build this platform that will forever change the music industry.”
“TheWaveVR isn’t just simply taking music to VR, they are radically evolving the possibilities for how artists reach fans and how fans get access to and experience their favorite music.”
TheWaveVR says it will enable people to ‘to view, host and socialize in live and recorded shows worldwide, anytime, anywhere’, which it says will ‘democratize the concert experience’.
It will so so by creating a VR venue in which artists can ‘perform live’ by ‘importing their tracks, customizing the visuals of the venue, and sharing virtual shows’.
Fans can attend via most major VR head mounted displays, which will – says the company – allow them to interact with performers, socialize with friends, dance, paint and more.
“We’re working toward empowering artists and music lovers alike and transforming the way people connect through music by building the world’s first musical metaverse in VR,” said Adam Arrigo, CEO of TheWaveVR.
“Music creators will be able to fully customize how their audience experiences the music – whether that’s by transforming the venue from a realistic nightclub to outer space or putting on the most unimaginable light show ever.
“Fans won’t have to travel the globe or miss out on their favorite DJs, musicians or festivals and can experience the music like never before, while socializing in totally new ways alongside their friends.”
To prove the concept, TheWaveVR is going to host what it dubs ‘the world’s first VR Rave’ on August 5-6, in partnership with SubPac, Skullcandy, PhaseSpace and 3DLive.
A curated list of DJs will be performing via the HTC Vive VP headset, while multiple attendees will wear positionally tracked Gear VR’s and SubPacs (subwoofer vests).
In January, Universal Music Group announced it was teaming up with iHeartMedia to launch a Virtual Reality concert series this year.Music Business Worldwide
