spatialcomputing.info

FOV Ventures is a newly formed venture capital firm which plans to invest in early-stage metaverse startups. The firm says it has raised an initial $18.1 million as part of its first fund.

Founding partners David Haynes and Petri Rajahalme announced this month FOV Ventures, a Finland-based early-stage VC firm through which the duo plans to focus on Europe-based metaverse startups.

The firm says it has raised $18.1 million (€16.5 million) so far and plans to cap its first fund at $27.5 million (€25 million). Through the fund the firm plans to invest $274K–550K (€250K–500K) in up to 25 companies in pre-seed and seed stages.

The company says it is looking to fund startups working specifically in the areas of ‘Avatars & Identity’, ‘Retail & Digital Commerce’, ‘Immersive Social’, ‘Future of Work’, and ‘Tools & Infrastructure’.

“The metaverse represents a major expansion of today’s Internet, becoming more immersive, built with new tools such as real-time 3D game engines, and spanning an increasingly blurred line between the virtual and physical world,” the firm says.

Both founding partners have backgrounds in venture funding, according to the firm. Dave Haynes was previously part of Vive X, HTC’s VR investment fund, and the Europe-focused VC firm Seedcamp. Haynes purportedly led investments in LIV, Maze Theory, and Bodyswaps during his tenure at Vive X. Petri Rajahalme was Managing Director at the Nordic XR Startups fund, where he is said to have led investments in eight XR companies, among other work in the XR investment space prior to the formation of FOV Ventures.