Investing in founders building the Metaverse
FOV Ventures is the go-to fund in Europe for ambitious founders building a startup for the Metaverse — the successor state of the Internet and a trillion dollar opportunity. We invest at the earliest stage and as a specialist fund aim to add value through our domain expertise and global network.
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There are many definitions of the Metaverse. For us the Metaverse represents a major expansion of today’s Internet which primarily exists through 2D screens, websites and mobile apps.
This new spatial web, or Metaverse, is more immersive, is built with new tools such as real-time 3D game engines and spans an increasingly blurred line between the digital and physical.
We believe that in the future the Metaverse will primarily manifest itself through persistent and interoperable virtual worlds, which can either standalone or be seamlessly merged with the physical world around us.
And we believe that increasing the openness, interoperability and diversity of the Metaverse will bring the most value for all of its participants.
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We believe the Metaverse represents a trillion dollar opportunity over the next decade.
It offers the potential to fundamentally change the way we play, socialize, learn, shop and entertain ourselves. It will also fundamentally change the way we work, collaborate, design and create. It will likely touch the majority of professions and even create new ones. And to create the Metaverse we’ll need new tools and infrastructure for creators and developers to make this possibility a reality.
Just like in the first internet era and then the rise of mobile, the Metaverse will unleash a new generation of billion dollar companies. The mission of FOV Ventures is to support and invest in the founders that are building those companies.
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FOV Ventures typically makes initial investments of up to €500k in European startups at the pre-seed or seed stage. As a specialist fund we look to add value and be as collaborative as possible. At pre-seed we’re happy to lead rounds and bring in other angels, or syndicate with other lead VC’s at the seed stage.
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FOV Ventures is a Finnish fund with partners based in London and Helsinki. The two partners, Dave Haynes and Petri Rajahalme, have deep experience in this space, having actively invested in it for the past five years at other venture funds, corporates, early stage accelerators and as angels.
In addition to our own expertise, additional value add comes through FOV’s active ‘Edge Network’ who help scout new deals and support the portfolio. This network includes leaders at the major tech companies, exited founders, opinion leaders and academics.
Meet the team
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Dave Haynes
Based in UK, Dave is partner at FOV Ventures. Dave previously led HTC’s $100m Vive X fund in EMEA and was part of the investment team at Seedcamp (Fund III). Metaverse-related portfolio and angel investments include Wave, LIV, ReadyPlayerMe, Crucible and many others. Prior to investing, Dave founded two of his own startups and was part of the founding team of SoundCloud.
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Petri Rajahalme
Based in Finland, Petri is a partner at FOV Ventures. Petri was previously Managing Director at Nordic XR Startups, leading investments in 8 XR startups and the successful exit of AR-cloud startup Immersal. Petri was recognised as XR Investor of the Year in 2019 and prior to this played a key role in fostering the Finnish XR ecosystem through a €30m program whilst at Business Finland.
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Sointu Karjalainen
Founder, futurist, Web3 advisor, creating immersive experiences since 2016. Champions female entrepreneurs wherever she goes. Used to run NASA hackathons, accelerators and crazy bio hacks. At FOV Sointu is our community and platform lead.
Viewpoints
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Why We Invested in Graswald
We are stoked to publicly announce our investment in Graswald.ai’s €3.3M Seed Round, alongside our friends at Supernode and Lakestar. Graswald delivers 3D product visualisations in minutes, not weeks.
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Announcing DVRSTY #3: Backing More Female Founders
Applications are open for our third DVRSTY initiative. This is a call to female founders in Europe with an initial product and are looking to raise their first funding round.
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A Deep Dive into the Industrial Metaverse
Learn how digital twins are shaping the Future of industry. This is one of a series of posts written by FOV Ventures Entrepreneur-In-Residence David Ripert.
Portfolio
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Transforming DTC company into web3 commerce
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Digitising movement with their markerless motion caption software
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Creating the new loyalty platform for web3 and the creator economy
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Developing software for the last mile of AR - gesture input
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Developing Metaverse no-code platform for events
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Developing browser technology for the Metaverse
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Improving existing 3D capture and generative AI pipelines
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The virtual stadium for socially viewing e-sports and entertainment
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Browser-based game engine to build games together
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Intelligence platform empowering brands across the Metaverse
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Developing a web-based platform for photorealistic 3D design
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Revolutionizing digital interaction with multiplayable, AI-driven experiences
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Building the future of immersive mental well-being
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Multiplayer action adventure games that are native to VR
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A multiplatform UGC universe for PC and consoles
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Leveraging cutting-edge AI to build the AAA game studio
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AI-generated high-quality, style-consistent, proprietary assets for your games
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Metaverse for the arts, museums, galleries, concert houses, operas and theatres
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Stealth-mode startup led by a team of industry experts and experienced founders
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Building 3D worlds for everyone
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Combining AI, 3D and education
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Building for creative play and self-expression
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Building the future of Generative AI Speech Technology.
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Accelerating CPU performance by 100x
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Enabling production of efficient, high brightness, full-colour microLED displays