Comcast Ventures has expanded its investments in virtual reality startups by joining a $2.5 million seed round in VR game developer Kite & Lightning.
Los Angeles-based Kite & Lightning said its seed round was led by Raine Ventures, with help from Comcast Ventures’s Catalyst Fund, Social Capital, Output Capital, Boost VC and Lytro CEO Jason Rosenthal.
Created in 2011, the Comcast Ventures Catalyst Fund invests in tech companies founded by underrepresented ethnic minority entrepreneurs. Comcast Ventures’ investment in Kite & Lightning follow recent financial backing in other VR-focused startups that include NextVR (live broadcast), Baobab Studios (animated VR) , Felix & Paul (cinematic VR), and AltSpaceVR (social VR).
“Fundamentally, we think, hope and believe that VR is one of the next great technology platforms so are backing what we believe to be emerging winners across a variety of content segments,” Comcast Ventures’ Michelle Gonzalez and Michael Yang noted in this blog post.
Kite & Lightning has already been involved in several VR projects, including an experience for Lionsgate’s Insurgent franchise, and one in 2014 to promote NBC’s The Voice.
Kite & Lightning, which has grown to a team of four following the seed funding, is now working on Bebylon Battle Royale: A Gentleman’s Game, described as a “VR party brawler where you play as selfie stick wielding immortal babies beating up each other.”
