NextVR confirmed today that the company has received $20 million in funding from a Chinese investment firm as a part of an upcoming Series B raise.
The news surfaced earlier this week on Variety after regulatory documents from CITIC Group Corp. were discovered. The $20M is just a slice of the Series B raise; Variety reports that NextVR is looking to raise $80 million at a $800 million valuation.
In an email, a company representative confirmed the investment from CITIC, while also detailing that the company “will announce additional investment partners soon and provide more information then.”
While most VR content networks grow at a sluggish pace due to the slow but steady proliferation of virtual reality headsets, NextVR is aggressively pursuing strategic partnerships. The company, which is backed by Formation 8 and Comcast Ventures, has already signed multiyear partnerships with Fox Sports and Live Nation to host a great deal of live content in VR.
The company has been doing a notable job at becoming the mainstream bet for big time media/broadcasting outlets to start experimenting with virtual reality. As the company starts moving its VR content capture efforts globally, this raise from a Chinese investment firm gets even more interesting for NextVR’s future exploits.