AmazeVR, a Los Angeles-based virtual concert platform, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $17 million in funding to create immersive music experiences through virtual reality (VR) concerts.
Like other industries, the entertainment sector has been affected by the coronavirus lockdown. Many music artists have had to cancel or push back their live shows during the pandemic. Some artists and music agencies have switched to virtual or online concerts to make up for the canceled events. AmazeVR is about to take over the entertainment industry since the outbreak of virtual reality shows popular with artists and fans alike.
Mirae Asset Capital, another subsidiary of Mirae Asset Financial Group (Mirae Asset Venture Investment), led the Series B round with returning backers including CJ Investment, Smilegate Investment, GS Futures and LG Technology Ventures. New strategic investors – Korean entertainment giant CJ ENM and mobile game maker Crafton – participated in the latest round.
“The virtual reality entertainment industry is growing rapidly, and we believe that music and gaming are the most promising sectors for future development,” said a CJ ENM spokesperson.
According to AmazeVR CEO Steve Lee, the startup plans to expand its funding of collaborations with artists and their management agencies, labels and publishers. He added that he is currently in talks with potential partners to work with top artists in the US.
The startup is developing a virtual concert and music service called Metaverse, which will be available on all major VR app stores and includes next-generation headsets like the Meta Quest Pro and Apple’s own rumored VR headset, Lee continued.
The Series B funding round comes on the heels of the startup’s joint venture announcement with K-pop agency SM Entertainment in July. Both companies plan to launch studios in South Korea and produce immersive VR concerts.
Lee said, “We are also preparing to organize virtual concerts with SM Entertainment artists and expand to other K-pop companies in South Korea. We plan to hire more artificial intelligence engineers. [Epic Game’s] Unrealistic engineers and visual effects (VFX) artists to keep up with the advancement of technology and premier virtual concerts.
The company also aims to expand its content diversity to bring VR concert fans around the world.
The AmazeVR team traveled to 15 U.S. cities this summer for their first commercial virtual concert, Enter Thee Hottieverse, featuring rap icon Megan T. Stallion at AMC Theaters. Lee told TechCrunch that the company has 75% attendance rates for its concerts, which is about 4.3 times the average theater occupancy rate of 15%-20%. The ticket price was $20-$25, about 2.5 times more than the average movie theater ticket price (~$9.17).
“CJ ENM plans to transform concerts and music TV shows with AmazeVR’s core technology into VR music experiences and more original content such as dramas and movies in the future,” said a CJ ENM spokesperson.
TechCrunch last covered AmazeVR earlier this year when it raised $15 million. Its Series B round brings the startup’s total funding to about $47.8 million. The Los Angeles-headquartered startup with offices in Seoul now has 62 members on its team.
