On July 29, the creator of one of the famous virtual reality adventure games, Moss, Polyarc, raised $9 million to expand from VR to AR games. The funding was led by Hiro Capital, along with Vulcan Capital, an existing investor, and Galaxy Interactive via its Galaxy EOS VC Fund, a partnership with EOSIO blockchain software publisher Block.one.
The Seattle-based company still continues making VR games, but this time, it adds AR to its core business competency, Polyarc CEO Tam Armstrong confirmed in an interview.
"The thing we want people to remember about Polyarc in 40 years is our characters. Our means to make our characters the most memorable is to build a company oriented around introducing them directly to our players in person. VR, AR, and the spectrum in between, offer an opportunity to connect our players with our characters through physical interaction and emotional feedback in a way that no other medium can match," said Tam Armstrong, CEO, and co-founder, Polyarc.
"This round of funding was essential for us to expand our development focus to further embrace VR and AR games," Armstrong added.
Who is Polyarc?
Polyarc is a Seattle-based company founded in 2016 by Chris Alderson, Tam Armstrong, and Danny Bulla. One of the founders' goals is to pursue the unique opportunity to contribute to the foundational design space and language of a new fundamental form of games.
This year is the second round of funding. Back in 2016, Polyarc raised $3.5 million in 2016 to fund the development of Moss, a game that had ranked as one of the top-rated VR games of all time and received more than 80 global industry awards and nominations from notable organizations such as BAFTA, The Game Awards, E3 Game Critics, D.I.C.E., GDC, Golden Joystick, and the Annie Awards.
The Hiro Capital founding Partner, Ian Livingstone said, "Polyarc is a proven leader in developing innovative VR interactive entertainment, and Moss is their amazing game which showcases the beauty and possibilities of what the VR platform can deliver. Hiro Capital is delighted to invest in Polyarc to help accelerate the studio's future development of mixed reality experiences."
Who is Hiro Capital
Meanwhile, the founding partner, Hiro Capital, is a Luxembourg / London technology Venture Capital fund. This company invests in the United States, European, and United Kingdom innovators in Games, Esports, and Digital Sports. It also invests at the post-seed Series A and B stages, and as well as investing front-end content creators in Games, Esports and Digital Sports and in deep tech sector-specific applications of Cloud, Mobile, Streaming, Big Data, AI, Wearables, AR and VR technologies.
Back in 2019, Hiro Capital launched a €100 million Fund to back deep technology entrepreneurs and creative studios in games, eSports, digital sports, and sector-specific Cloud, Mobile, Streaming applications, Big Data, AI, Wearables, and AR and VR technologies. With Hiro Capital's investment in Polyarc, the growing portfolio of investments continues, which now includes, Flavourworks, LIV, Edgegap, FitXR, and NURVV.
"We are excited to be partnering with Polyarc to push Mixed Reality to the next level. They are a super-smart, passionate team who combine creative brilliance with business vision. Hiro invests in strong character-led IP on next-generation cross-platform tech: we believe that Polyarc will be a leader in the next generation of Immersive entertainment." said Luke Alvarez, Managing Partner of Hiro.
For more information about Polyarc and career opportunities, visit www.polyarcgames.com and follow the official Polyarc channels on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
