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Baobab Studios, the startup focused on VR animation, said it has wrapped up a $25 million “B” round led by Horizon Ventures, along with help from with Twentieth Century Fox, Evolution Media Partners (backed by TPG and CAA), China'sShanghai Media Group, Youku Global Media Fund and LDV Partners.
They join Baobab’s original investors Comcast Ventures, HTC and Samsung.
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Baobab Studios said the new round will be used to develop more animated VR movies and help the startup grow on a global scale.
In addition to the funding, the company also announced the hiring of Larry Cutler as chief technology officer (CTO), and the exec who served as Pixar's technical director for Toy Story 2 and Monsters Inc., and later became global head of character technology for DreamWorks Animation, which was recently acquired by Comcast.
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Baobab also appointed Chris Milk, founder and CEO of story-focused VR firm Within, to its advisory board.
The funding follows the release of Baobab Studios’s INVASION! Episode One, an interactive animated VR short narrated by Ethan Hawke. The company has also released a “first look” for ASTEROIDS!, the second installment in the studios’ INVASION!, with the full episode scheduled for release in 2017.
Maureen Fan, CEO of Baobab Studios, and Eric Darnell, Baobab’s chief creative officer, joined Jane Rosenthal, executive chair for Tribeca Enterprises, for a keynote on VR storytelling Monday (October 17) at VR 20/20, VR 20/20, the first event for NewBay Media’s NYC Television & Video Week.
#VR2020 keynote speakers CEO Maureen Fan & CCO Eric Darnell sat down with @janetribeca to talk #VR and #storytellingpic.twitter.com/ItTAAIXxoA
— baobab studios (@baobabvr) October 17, 2016
