Live virtual reality (VR) streaming startup NextVR, Inc. has raised $80 million Series B in a round that included China Assets Holdings, Citic Guoan Information Industry Co., CMC Holdings, Founder H Fund, NetEase, VMS Investment Group, SoftBank, and Spectrum 28 Capital along with existing investors Formation Group, Time Warner Investments, Comcast Ventures, Stephen Ross’s RSE Ventures, Mandalay Entertainment CEO Peter Guber, The Madison Square Garden Co., and Dick Clark productions.

Founded in 2009, NextVR enables the transmission of live, long-form virtual reality content in broadcast quality, enabling the delivery of a live VR broadcasts of sporting events, concerts, cinematic productions and more. 

The company’s platform allows for fully immersive content to be streamed with pristine quality using current home and mobile Internet connections, and has so far seen use from FOX Sports, Live Nation, NBC Sports, HBO/Golden Boy, Turner Sports, and CNN. Past events covered include the U.S. Open and Masters Tournament, the Kentucky Derby, the DAYTONA 500 and the International Champions Cup (ICC).

In addition to offering live virtual reality, NextVR also has more than 36 patents granted or pending for the capture, compression, transmission, and display of virtual reality content.

“NextVR continues to revolutionize how live virtual reality content will be created and delivered,” Time Warner Investments Managing Director Scott Levine said in a statement. “Consumers are excited about the technology and NextVR’s platform is clearly the leader in this emerging space.”

Asia push

If many of the names of the new investors in the round are not immediately familiar, it’s because many of them are based in China and there’s a reason for this: NextVR sees Asia, and China in particular, as the next big frontier in virtual reality.

“The U.S. is excited about VR,” NextVR Executive Chairman Brad Allen told The Wall Street Journal. “But China is even more excited about VR.”

Allen also claims more than 100 companies in China are currently developing head-mounted displays, and that many of those devices are powered by mobile phone, adding that many in China view the medium as the next computing platform.

While behind virtual reality development from the likes of Oculus, HTC and Samsung, the sheer volume of development coming from China, be it that many so far are simply Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR knockoffs, could well see the next big wave of virtual reality adoption coming from the Middle Kingdom. It makes sense that NextVR wants to be betting big on that market.

Including the new round, NextVR has raised $115.5 million to date.

The company said it would use the new funding to accelerate development of its virtual reality platform and international operations to bring considerably more live entertainment – from concerts, world-class sports and other performances – to consumers through an expanding array of high-profile, global technology, entertainment and investment partners.

Image credit: Pixabay/ Public Domain CC0.