– Niio, a digital art platform, raised $15m in Series A funding.
– The round was co-led by L Catterton, a joint venture between LVMH and Catterton, Entrée Capital and Pico Venture Partners.
– Additional investors also joined, including Saga VC, as well as leading artists, art collectors, museums, gallerists and trustees at institutions such as MOMA and Guggenheim as well as Shalom McKenzie, an online gambling entrepreneur and investor who also invests in NFTs.
– The company will use its capital to grow its artist community and scale its app-enabled subscription and purchase platform, which is blockchain–based and will include a trading-enabled marketplace for NFTs and other digital art assets.

– Tetavi, a Los Angeles, CA-based volumetric technology platform, closed a $20m venture funding round.
– The round was led by Insight Partners, with participation from OurCrowd, Nimble Ventures and additional private investors.
– The company intends to use the funds to increase its presence in North America, expanding its partnerships and content platform across the U.S. with specific locations in Los Angeles and New York.

– ForeVR Games is a VR gaming company based in Los Angeles.
– The company raised $7M in additional seed financing.
– The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Galaxy Interactive, All Star Capital, Mark Pincus and Emmett Shear.
– The new funding will be used to build out the team, develop new games, expand to additional platforms and continue to upgrade the recently-released ForeVR Bowl.

– ByondXR from Tel Aviv develops a platform that creates virtual showrooms and stores for beauty, fashion and home decor brands using extended reality.
– The company raised $7M in seed funding.
– The round was led by Firstime and OurCrowd, with participation from angel investor Peter Chu, founder and former CEO of XR platform HTC.
– The new investment will be aimed at expanding customer success and research and development.

– V-Nova, a London, UK based high-growth company leader in the compression of video and image data, received an investment from Neva First, the alternative investment fund managed by Neva SGR.
– The company closed a €33m Series C funding round.
– The company intends to use the funds to bolster the commercial roll-out of its video compression software.

– HaptX is raising more cash to meet demand for its haptic gloves that help enterprise customers working in virtual reality and robotics.
– The company just landed $12m from existing investors including Verizon Ventures, Mason Avenue Investments, Taylor Frigon Capital Partners, and Upheaval Investments.
– Total funding to date is $31m.
– HaptX released the HaptX Gloves DK2 in January and said all inventory is sold out.
– It will use the funding to launch a second manufacturing run.
– The company is also moving its headquarters to back the Seattle area, where it originally launched before moving to California and will open a new 15,000 square-foot space.

– Osso VR, a validated virtual reality (VR) surgical training and assessment platform, has secured $27M in Series B funding.
– GSR Ventures led the funding round with participation from Signalfire, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, OCA Ventures, Scrum Ventures, Leslie Ventures and Anorak Ventures.
– Osso VR’s surgical training technology provides on-demand, educational experiences that are effective, repeatable and measurable to help surgeons reach proficiency with emerging surgical techniques and technologies.

– VividQ, a Cambridge, UK-based deep technology company and software and IP developer for holography, raised £11M in seed extension round.
– The round was led by UTokyo IPC, joined by Foresight Williams Technology, Japanese Miyako Capital, APEX Ventures, and R42 Group and previous investors University of Tokyo Edge Capital, Sure Valley Ventures, and Essex Innovation.
– The company intends to use the funds to scale the team, expand in APAC and further product development, including HoloLCD, which turns consumer-grade screens into holographic displays.

– Illuminarium Experiences announced today it has received $100m in initial funding, with its newest significant investment from Eldridge.
– The commitment from Eldridge will support the launch of the first-ever Illuminarium in Atlanta, GA, opening July 1, 2021, as well as future global locations.
– Illuminarium’s immersive entertainment venues enable visitors to experience real world, filmed content and authentic, re-created worlds in an environment unlike any other.

– Virtuix from Austin TX is the developer of Omni – the first omni-directional treadmill that enables 360-degree movement in virtual environments.
– The company raised $19M in Series A-2 funding.
– The round was led by venture capital firm Spark Capital, with participation from existing investors Tencent, GVR Fund, and Shanda Group.
– The new investment will be used to launch Omni One, a consumer version of the Omni for the home market.

– Eys3D Microelectronics, a company producing chips and sensors for autonomous operations including security, touchless control, autonomous vehicles, and smart retail, announced that it’s raised $7 million in a series A round led by strategic partners Arm IoT Capital, WI Harper Group, and Marubun Corporation.
– The company says that the funding will allow it to grow its product development and research efforts, including into 3D depth-sensing cameras and vision sensor integration solutions that enable new capabilities in object recognition, distance measurement, and more.

– Holoride, a Swedish ADAS software development company, raised €10m in Series A funding.
– The round was led by Terranet and joined by Chinese financial and automotive technology investors, organized by investment professional Jingjing Xu, and educational and entertainment game development company Schell Games.
– Holoride will use the fresh funds to search for new developers and other talent both as it prepares to expand into global markets like Europe, the United States and Asia, and in advance of its summer 2022 launch for private passenger cars.
– Holoride is on a mission to revolutionize the passenger experience by turning dead car time into interactive experiences that can run the gamut of gaming, education, productivity, mindfulness and more.
– Holoride is manufacturer-agnostic.

– Seattle-based Rec Room has raised $100m in new funding.
– The game development startup is now valued at $1.25b after an explosive year of growth in which players used the platform to connect during the COVID-19 pandemic.
– It’s the latest Seattle-area startup to reach “unicorn” status with a $1b valuation or more.

– AppliedVR, a pioneer advancing the next generation of digital medicine, today announced $29m in series A funding, bringing its total funds raised to $35m.
– The round, which includes key investors F-Prime Capital, JAZZ Venture Partners, Sway Ventures, GSR Ventures, Magnetic Ventures and Cedars-Sinai, will fuel the company’s growth as it pursues full FDA approval over the next year.
– AppliedVR provides virtual reality-based treatments aimed at comprehensively treating chronic pain. Combining well-established cognitive behavioral therapies with mindfulness exercises, the company’s EaseVRx solution recently became the first VR prescription therapeutic to receive Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA for treatment-resistant fibromyalgia and chronic intractable lower back pain.

– Gather is a virtual gathering space platform.
– The startup raised $26m in Series A funding.
– The round was led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Index Ventures, YC Continuity, Jeff Weiner, Dylan Field and Kevin Hartz.
– The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand operations and its business reach.

– Pico Interactive, a San Francisco, CA-based global tech company that develops innovative virtual reality (VR) and enterprise solutions, closed a $37.4M (€31.4M) Series B+ funding round.
– The round was led by Co-Stone Asset Management Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Yidun Media Investment Fund, Jianyin International Capital Management (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., and CCBI Tech Venture (Suzhou). Combined Debt & Equity Private Equity Fund LLP.
– Pico has now raised a total of $67.23M (€56.48M) in B and B+ funding.

– Japanese space startup Gitai has raised a $17.1m funding round.
– The round was led by SPARX Innovation for the Future Co. Ltd, and includes funding form DcI Venture Growth Fund, the Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company, and EP-GB (Epson’s venture investment arm).

– Praxis Labs is a New York-based maker of a virtual reality-based diversity and inclusion learning platform.
– The company raised $3.2m in seed funding.
– The new investment will be used to expand the company’s operations and business reach.

– YBVR secured $1.5M in financing from Verizon Ventures, TCA and Wayra (Telefonica).
– The funding will be used to advance the company’s technology, build its team and further key partnerships.
– With 360-degree streaming, YBVR’s video platform significantly enhances the virtual viewing experience.
– Currently used to broadcast events such as Australian Open 2021 in Melbourne, Fan Controlled Football Season 2021 in Atlanta, and Euroleague Basketball F4 in Cologne, Germany, YBVR provides a fully immersive viewing experience for sports fans and concert goers across the world using any connected device.
– Ultra-low latency allows for viewers to simultaneously select from various camera angles for a personalized spectator experience.
– YBVR is able to provide instantaneous streaming through deployment on a previously announced AWS Wavelength with Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network.

– Labster secured $60m in Series C funding.
– The round was led by new investor Andreessen Horowitz, joined by existing investors GGV Capital, Owl Ventures, Balderton Capital, David Helgason, founder of Unity Technologies, Northzone, Swisscom Ventures, and EduCapital.
– The round brings Labster’s total capital raised to $100m.
– Labster is the award-winning producer of virtual laboratory simulations.
– The latest round of capital will enable Labster to focus on growing the size of its global team to serve students around the world.
– Currently in 70+ countries, Labster has already put together an ambitious roadmap for expansion, and is now hiring across all major teams such as engineering, product, sales and customer success.