Tokyo XR Startups is a Japanese initiative to help virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) startups through funding, workspace lending and back office operations. The organisers recently announced the 5th batch for its Incubation Program, selecting five lucky applicants.
During the program, each startup will be mentored by experts in the XR field to develop prototypes and launch services, with each team receiving a capital investment of around ¥ 5 million to ¥ 10 million from Tokyo XR Startups.
The successful startups were:
- Quera – This company’s mission is to improve the customer buying experience by combine image search with image recognition technology and AR, specialising in fashion.
- Rikuty Inc. – Is developing a chronic pain rehabilitation system using VR, providing healthcare services that combine physiotherapeutic approaches with entertainment.
- CanR Inc. – Aims to develop a training system based on the laws of physics, helping contribute to the improvement of physical technology. The company’s first training system is an indoor golf school.
- Experience Sharing Co. – Is developing next-generation MR training and MR training products using Hololens 2 and AI for enterprise.
- Muujuu Inc. – The company is working on virtual characters for business, currently developing a virtual influencer specializing in the Chinese market.
Each of the startups has four months to develop a prototype, ending June 2019. Each team will receive various support such as free use of the TXS Incubation Center, development equipment rental and mentoring. Each team will then have to make presentations at Demo Day on 2nd July, 2019, to VCs, other investors, enterprise, etc. to try to get financial and business support for further growth.
While competitive, there are a number of initiatives XR startups can turn to, helping make their project a reality. HTC Vive’s global VR/AR accelerator Vive X is one of the largest – TPCast was an early benificiary – or for videogame developers using Unreal Engine then there’s always the recently announced Epic MegaGrants initiative from Epic Games which has a massive $100,000,000 USD pot.
As Tokyo XR Startups programme continues, VRFocus will keep you updated on each of the company’s progress, reporting back on the most successful applicants during the summer.