Spaces raises additional $6.5 mln

Spaces Inc said Jan. 13 that it raised another $6.5 million in funding led by Songcheng Performances Development Co Ltd. Comcast Ventures and other VC groups also participated. Spaces, of Los Angeles, is a virtual reality and mixed reality company.

PRESS RELEASE

PLAYA VISTA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SPACES Inc., the virtual reality and mixed reality company launched in 2016 by VR pioneers from DreamWorks Animation, has raised an additional $6.5 million in funding, led by China-based Songcheng Performances Development Co. Ltd., with additional investment from Comcast Ventures, the venture-capital affiliate of Comcast Corporation, and other leading VC groups.
Combined with a previously announced $30-million SPACES-Songcheng theme-park joint venture, the new investments accelerate SPACES’ vision to build a bold new era of VR-enabled parks and attractions.
SPACES’ Series Seed round also includes investments by Boost VC; Colopl VR Fund; GREE Inc.; Kai Huang; The Venture Reality Fund; and Youku Global Media Fund and CRCM VC – all of whom were initial investors in SPACES.
“Through our SPACES Parks & Attractions division, we’re fundamentally reimagining the theme park experience with stunning advances in VR technology,” said SPACES co-founder and CEO Shiraz Akmal. “Together with our Songcheng joint venture, this new capital expands our efforts to create entirely new kinds of VR-enabled destinations.”
Co-founder and CTO Brad Herman added, “It’s exciting to be at the center of the convergence of creativity, technology and theme parks. The future of VR and mixed reality will bring to life immersive experiences on a grand scale.”
SPACES and Songcheng plan to announce details about their theme park projects soon. Songcheng is one of the world’s biggest theme-park operators, with annual attendance of more than 23 million visitors in 2015, according to data from the Themed Entertainment Association.
SPACES also announced today that it has named former DreamWorks Animation CFO Fazal Merchant; Comcast Ventures’ managing director Michael Yang; and Ethan Wang, general manager of Songcheng Technology, to serve on its newly established board of directors.
“SPACES is poised for unprecedented opportunity in the global theme-park market,” Yang said. “I look forward to helping the team navigate the quickly growing VR entertainment space as a board member and investor.”
Based in Los Angeles, SPACES takes its name from the base unit of virtual reality, a “space,” and boasts one of the most accomplished teams in the VR industry, with artists, designers and programmers from film, television, video games, visual effects, theme parks and animation.