A recent reported hinted at the possibility that HTC would establish an independent subsidiary for its virtual reality division. The move, according to a company executive, would help HTC build alliances with potential strategic partners and solicit equity investments for the business from these partners.
HTC has now made that possibility a reality, as it has formed a wholly owned subsidiary named the HTC Vive Tech Corporation.
According to HTC, the unit will serve as a vehicle for the development of strategic alliances which will help in the growth of the global virtual reality ecosystem, a statement which is not too far from the comments made by the HTC executive in the earlier report.
HTC's decision to enter the burgeoning virtual reality industry has been an excellent one, as the company's headset, the HTC Vive, has seen massive success with great reviews. With the formation of a new unit, managers and engineers that will be working under HTCVTC will gain the breathing space that they need to be able to solely focus on entertainment and gaming, which are two sectors that the parent company has not dealt with in the past.
HTC has not been doing particularly well in its main smartphone business, as it continues to lose market share to the likes of Samsung and Apple. Other companies looking to become partners with HTC for the HTC Vive will likely be more inclined to team up with a unit that is only focused on virtual reality as opposed to also having to be involved and affected by HTC's smartphone division.
In addition to the formation of HTCVTC, HTC also announced its involvement in the creation of the Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance, which is a consortium made up of 28 venture capital firms that are ready to invest into the virtual reality industry.
The member companies of the consortium have a total of $10 billion in capital that can be invested, which says a lot about the power that these companies hold. Among the members of the alliance are Sequioa Capital, 500 Startup and Matrix Partners.
With these moves, it can be seen that HTC is indeed placing a larger focus on virtual reality and its initiatives in the space. While the company has been struggling in widening its hold in the smartphone market, its early lead in the virtual reality game provides it with a golden opportunity in the lucrative industry.
