Jaunt, a startup that makes cameras, software and other tools for the creation of "cinematic" virtual reality content, has landed a $28 million Series B round led by Highland Capital Partners and participation by Google Ventures.
Existing investors Redpoint Ventures, British Sky Broadcasting, Dolby chairman and DigiDesign founder Peter Gotcher, and Sling Media co-founder Blake Krikorian also participated in the round, which takes Jaunt’s total funding beyond $34 million. It announced initial funding of $6.8 million in April.
Jaunt said it will use the funds to scale up its operations, including the building of additional cameras (see image above) and the expansion of its production team. Jaunt, a Palo Alto-based company founded in 2013, noted previously that its cross-platform viewer renders content for devices such as the Oculus Rift, the VR device that is now part of Facebook following its $2 billion acquisition of Oculus VR. But Jaunt's latest FAQ also says that its intention is to be “device agnostic.”
Jaunt adds that it is currently in post-production on several projects, but has not announced a release date for its content. It’s currently working with New Deal Studios to product what it claims will be “the first narrative cinematic VR content every shot in Hollywood.”
It’s initial business model will focus on the distribution of its VR player and content, but Jaunt said it might also develop a consumer-ready camera and offer production services.
As a part of the funding round, Alex Taussig, partner at Highland Capital, will join Jaunt’s board, which also includes Tim Haley, partner at Redpoint Ventures; Gotcher; and “board observer” Stuart Murphy, director of entertainment channels at Sky.
The company’s advisors including Babak Parviz, VP at Amazon; Brad Wechsler, chairman of IMAX; award-winning director Mark Romanek; and Bernd Girod, professor of electrical engineering, Stanford University.
