See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Cluster, the Japanese startup behind the social VR (virtual reality) app under the same name supporting several thousand people-scale events in VR space, announced on Wednesday that it has secured 200 million yen (about $1.8 million) in a series A round. The participating investors in this round include Avex Ventures (the investment arm of Japanese showbiz giant Avex Holdings Group), United (TSE:2497), DeNA (TSE:2432) and Skyland Ventures, plus undisclosed individual investors.

This funding succeeds the one with the total of 50 million yen (about $450,000) from Skyland Ventures, East Ventures and unnamed individual investors in its angel round in April of last year.

Along with this, Cluster and Avex Holdings Group (TSE:7860) announced they have agreed to a business partnership.

With this money, Cluster is going to advance business collaborations with enterprises having popular contents, as well as improve its product including the multi-device support covering smartphone or mobile VR.

See also:

• Japan’s Cluster to launch social VR hangout rooms for live events and gatherings

Cluster had taken part in the Demo Day of Avex Enter-Tech Pitch 1st batch and made a pitch there. Unlike typical accelerator Demo Days, this event was held in the semi-closed style with only Avex staffers and invited guests such as people concerned in the startup ecosystem, in order to explore opportunities of the open innovation between Avex and startups. At the Demo Day, Cluster won the Masato Matsuura Award and the prize winning led the financial / business partnership this time.

The detail of this business partnership is not disclosed yet, but Kato’s pitch and the conversation with the judges at the Demo Day suggest that Avex had held various real events all around Japan featuring artists belonging to Avex and it is considered that Avex will look for a way to offer  these kinds of performances in VR with Cluster. In addition, an Avex-affiliated company Avex Pictures owns major animation titles such as Yuri on Ice or Osomatsu-san, the business tie-up leveraging VR is expected also in this field.

According to Cluster CEO Naoto Kato, a function enabling to sell tickets only to limited users to participate in closed-style VR events is already implemented to the Cluster app. Kato said the app matches Asian culture or animation voice actors well and he is expecting a lot from the partnership with Avex also as to this point.

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Cluster is developing a virtual reality (VR) platform under the same name capable of holding events on a participant scale of thousands in a metaverse. The company announced this week that it will launch the official release of the service in May while unveiling a sneak peek. Together with this announcement, they revealed a teaser page and started accepting user pre-registration for the official release.

Compared with the alpha version released last year, the official version added a function that allows users to create rooms of their own in VR. Users can share it by a hashed unique URL, and only users who know it can enter the same room and share experiences. Currently, users can only select the room from around ten kinds of prepared variations, such as a conference room or a living room, but the company has looked at making it necessary for users to design the room by themselves in the future.

One other interesting feature of the official version is the ability to screen share in VR. Users gathered in one room can see the same image on the screen provided in the room in VR. Because you can project games and YouTube screens here, it is also possible for multiple users to discuss their opinions while watching video content or to share their experiences while watching live sports broadcasts.

Incidentally, the broadcasting of TV shows and the sale of DVDs is premised on the idea of individual viewers. It is assumed that families and friends who gather in the same place to appreciate them together is permissible. There is currently no clear law or precedent to define how many people (or under what circumstances) are permitted to watch together in a “shared space” in VR.

From his personal perspective, if up to several people gathered in VR were watching the same content together using the WebRTC-based version of Cluster like they would for a house party, Cluster CEO Naoto Kato conjectured that it could possibly be interpreted as them in an actual living room to view it.  However, as it is possible for thousands of people to share the same event space at the same time in VR by making full use of Cluster’s back-end servers and CDN (content delivery network), there is a high possibility of conflict with copyright infringement, and in this case it would be necessary to take measures to avoid this.

On the flipside, if a content holder or licensee hosts an event, it would be possible to provide an environment where multiple users could view the same movie or live sports broadcast publicly on Cluster. Here we can imagine any number of business opportunities.

The key idea behind the development of Cluster is the ability to stay where you are most comfortable. Kato noted that just the other day he took the stage at an event in Shibuya, Tokyo and how troublesome it was to have to take the Yamanote line train from his office in Gotanda (just three stops from Shibuya, a ten-minute ride). Considering the time and cost of travel, the cost and logistics it takes to ensure places where large numbers of people can gather, and the business people who have run around all day, Cluster can be regarded as a new alternative means for companies involved in the event business.

Companies also competing in this field include America’s AltspaceVR and Japan’s EmbodyMe, launched last week, among others, but Kato noted that Cluster would like to focus on pursuing convenience, as opposed to the entertainment value of VR. To that end, it seems they are intentionally recruiting users who will participate in testing new functions and those who will hold events on Cluster with the teaser page.

In April of 2016, Cluster raised around 50 million yen (about $450K US) from Skyland Ventures, East Ventures, and several individual investors in an angel round.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

Cluster, the Japanese startup behind a virtual reality(VR)-based event and environment platform under the same name, announced on Tuesday that it has fundraised 50 million yen (about US$460,000) from Skyland Ventures, East Ventures and several angel investors.

Upon obtaining this funding, the company was rebranded from its previous name Fictbox. Skyland Ventures participated in the previous funding round in January.

The firm apparently is targeting relative small event organizers that cannot afford to commit much money or withstand losses. The Cluster platform allows event organizers to hold meet-ups, events, and other gathering opportunities using VR without fear of booking a venue or paying a high rent. For participants, they can virtually participate in an event by wearing a headgear and communicate with each others, even from home.

Thanks to recent advances in server integration technologies and a protocol optimized for Internet of Things (IoT), even if more than 1,000 connections are established simultaneously, users are unlikely to feel a heavy load on the system.

via TechCrunch Japan

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy