Exclusive: RedCliffe Capital leads seed round in San Francisco-based VR startup Xanadu Heights
London-cum Gurgaon-based investment firm RedCliffe Capital has led an undisclosed amount of funding in an angel round in San Francisco-based VR game startup - Xanadu Heights Inc. A couple of family funds based out of the US also participated in the round. According to YourStory's sources the amount invested in range of $400 to 4500K
The company has confirmed the investment to YourStory over a phone call. The round was sealed last month, and the proceeds will be deployed towards building and launching the game’s first chapter later this year.
The game was designed specifically for VR and will be initially available on the Samsung Gear VR and HTC Vive headsets. Dheeraj Jain, Managing Partner at RedCliffe Capital, said:
Immersive gaming is projected to be at a massive 48 percent of a $4.8B VR software market by 2018E. Our firm is excited about virtual reality, and has been keen to make an investment in the VR gaming space. The XH team has captured our attention with their vision to publish a ground-up VR racing title, and we are delighted to be backing them in this venture.
The company claims to conceptualise the first part of the game series as three progressively complex chapters, to be released as paid downloadable content (DLC). Early bird access to the first part of the game will begin later this winter. The initial cost for the first chapter is estimated to be $19.99. Preetam Mukherjee, Founder and Principal Producer of the game franchise, added:
Xanadu Heights is a game that tackles a tough niche in VR: racing. High speed motion is a particularly challenging experience to build for, and we are excited to have the backing to be able to do so.
Lately, Redcliffe Capital has been an active early stage investor in Indian startups. It began investing in startups in the first half of last year and has, so far, put its bets on 20 startups including Mappr, Shipsy, Qdesk and several others.
The company has been developing the game since late 2015 and has been focussing on building original intellectual property for the virtual reality gaming space.
Update: Earlier we said that company has raised $500K but sources indicate that it's in the range of $400 to 500K.