In a Series B financing round, VR concert startup, Wave, raises US$30 million in funding. The round was led by Maveron with Griffin Gaming Partners in participation, along with other prominent individuals such as Scooter Braun (American Entrepreneur), Alex Rodriguez (former Yankees baseball star), Rick Farman (Superfly co-founder) and Kevin Lin (Twitch co-founder).
Founded in 2016, Wave's immersive experience follows an extended reality (XR) concept that combines both augmented reality and virtual reality elements. Its primary mission – to help artists earn within the confluence of gaming and entertainment.
Based in Los-Angeles, Wave intends to utilise the funding to diversify its portfolio beyond concerts and into the entertainment experience arena. According to a company representative, the fresh capital would “elevate Wave's creation of personalised artist avatars, new virtual environments and formats, and interactive experiences,” which would also include in-game activations and social interactions. To add to its ambitions, Wave also intends to expand globally, looking into markets like Japan and China.
American entrepreneur, Scooter Braun, who also manages superstars Ariana Grander and Justin Bieber, shares his excitement on the announcement “I want to work with today's most forward-thinking leaders in music and technology. The future of the industry depends on it,” Braun further comments on Wave's key strength in creating “transformative experiences for the next generation of concert-goers, with a refreshingly artist-first approach.”
Similarly, Co-founder/Managing Director of Griffin Gaming Partners, Phil Sanderson shared his support on the capital boost commenting that “Wave matches Griffin's vision of the future of live events and interactive music experiences,” further adding on that “The Wave experience captures the emotion of the crowd, provides an immersive platform with the audience and is a natural extension of in-person experiences.” Sanderson will be joined by Maveron's General Partner, David Wu, on Wave's board as the startup seeks to achieve its goals.
Wave's XR content are distributed across major social media platforms like YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook. To add, the Wave app is also made available for Oculus VR headsets and Steam's Index VR headsets. Since its inception, Wave has raised a total of US$40 million in funding and given its presence in major social media platforms, as well as leading VR companies with high penetration rates in consumer VR content, the company's success is one to look out for as it makes its way around the globe.
