First HTC Vive™ X Demo Day Arrives in Beijing as 19 Startup Teams Demonstrate Their Achievements in VR Innovation
HTC Corporation (“HTC”), a pioneer in innovative, smart mobile and virtual reality (VR) technologies, successfully held the Beijing roadshow of the first Vive X Demo Day on December 13. Out of the 33 startups in Batch 1 of the Vive X Accelerator, 19 gathered in Beijing to introduce their teams and demonstrate their innovation achievements to VCs, media, developers and partners focused on the VR industry. Three Vive X Demo Day roadshows are held for the Batch 1 teams, with the kick-off in San Francisco on December 7; following the recent event in Beijing, its final stop will take place in Taipei on December 16, bringing this 4-month Batch 1 program to a conclusion.
“Innovation is the cornerstone of the burgeoning VR market and only differentiated VR startups can stand out and eventually succeed,” said Alvin W. Graylin, China Regional President of Vive, HTC. “I’m so proud of what the first batch of Vive X teams has achieved over the past four months. With the support of Vive X and many of our partners, these teams may well become future unicorns in VR, bringing disruptive changes to many vertical industries such as education, healthcare, design, social, and more.”
Established in April, Vive X Accelerator (www.vivex.co) is an HTC-funded, US$100 million program dedicated to helping cultivate and foster innovative startups in the VR industry. Accepted startups are offered special access to advanced VR technology and resources such as product and technical support, mentorship, networking, and financing. Thirty-three startup teams were selected from a total of 1,200 applicants and became Vive X Batch 1 members, settling into Vive X Accelerator locations in August. Under the guidance and support of Vive X mentors and consultants, they have made significant progress and outstanding achievements in developing solutions for a variety of fields including VR content, technology, and applications.
“VR engagement in education is a huge market with enormous potential, but it is also true that the majority of education-specific content can be relatively complicated and pricey to develop,” said Dabo Chen, founder and CEO of Langzou Technologies. “We developed a tool to allow teachers to create interactive VR courses in a much easier way, turning 16 million teachers in China into potential content creators. During the development process, Vive X provided unique support in financing and the supply chain as well as lowering hardware costs, and even helped us gradually become profitable in the short-term.”
“Without extremely high pressure, diamonds would never crystalize; this is the realization that our Vive X experience has given us. I’m truly thankful for the freedom that Vive X offered us and the assistance it is providing in maturing our business model,” said Sam Jang, founder of Augmented Intelligence, a company committed to establishing a VR platform for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) education.
“In my opinion, I think the VR market in China has a very bright future, thanks to the various types of support from the government, venture capitals who are expanding and maturing at an incredibly fast speed, and the huge amount of VR users in China,” said Tao Hu, founder and CEO of RockVR. “Together with HTC Vive, we look forward to accelerating the development of the VR market in China. Vive X attracts a number of outstanding startups and provides tremendous help in gathering resources across capital, media, and business. We strongly recommend startups who are passionate about building up the VR industry to join Vive X and drive the development of this field together.”
Meanwhile, the second member meeting of the Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance (VRVCA, www.VRVCA.com) was recently held in San Francisco. Ten VR startup teams from Europe and the US demonstrated their development achievements and innovation capabilities to the 17 VRVCA members in attendance. VRVCA currently comprises 42 top investors in the world, altogether representing more than US$15 billion of investible capital. Twenty-six VRVCA members also attended Vive X Demo Day in Beijing, observing the exhibitions of the Vive X Batch 1 team innovations along with the representatives from approximately 100 other venture capital organizations.
“The exciting thing about VRVCA is that all market trends within this emerging industry are represented and anchored by HTC’s leadership and commitment to the space and the technology,” said Norm Liang, Venture Partner at WI Harper. “We are seeing things that change how content is made, consumed and distributed across this new medium. We are also able to see the global companies and entrepreneurs in both US and Asia who are evolving this media and the business models behind it.”
Vive X Accelerator Program (Batch 2) is currently accepting applications from all VR startup companies and teams until the December 19 deadline. VR startup teams who would like to be a part of Vive X Batch 2 may visit: www.vivex.co.
About the Vive Virtual Reality System
Vive is a first-of-its-kind virtual reality system developed in partnership by HTC and Valve. Designed from the ground up for room-scale VR, Vive allows true-to-life interactions and experiences thanks to an adjustable headset displaying stunning graphics, two wireless controllers with HD haptic feedback and 360˚ absolute motion tracking. For a convenient and safe experience, Vive incorporates essential functionality from your phone and features a front facing camera that blends physical elements into the virtual world. Working in concert, this system immerses you visually, physically and emotionally in the virtual world. For more information on Vive, please visit www.vive.com.
About HTC
HTC Corporation aims to bring brilliance to life. As a global innovator in smart mobile and virtual reality devices and technology, HTC has produced award-winning products and industry firsts since its inception in 1997, including the critically acclaimed HTC One and HTC Desire lines of smartphones, and is now leading the VR industry with the Vive line of products. The pursuit of brilliance is at the heart of everything we do, inspiring best-in-class design and game-changing mobile and virtual reality experiences for consumers around the world. HTC is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE: 2498). www.htc.com.
