Kagenova, a key developer in engineering interactive realism for next-generation immersive experiences, including virtual, mixed and augmented reality (VR/AR/MR), recently raised £400,000 of investment. Kagenova’s pre-seed fundraising round, finalised in December 2018, was led by AI Seed and included Startup Funding Club, the London Co-Investment Fund (LCIF), Foundamental, and a number of Angel investors. Kagenova also received investment from HTC through participation in its Vive X programme.

Dave Haynes, Director of Vive X Europe, said:

“The mission of Vive X is to cultivate, foster and grow the entire XR ecosystem. We’re excited that the technology that Kagenova has developed has generated interest from many studios and developers, helping them build the next generation of immersive experiences.”

Founded in 2018 and based in the UK, Kagenova’s core, innovative technologies engineer interactive realism at scale and draw heavily on their background expertise in artificial intelligence (AI), computer graphics, and astrophysics.

The round, which was oversubscribed, will enable Kagenova to commercialise their first product, copernic360, which turns any 360° VR content into six degrees of freedom (6DOF) experiences. By supporting 6DOF motion, copernic360 eliminates visual-vestibular conflict, the main cause of cyber motion sickness, and greatly enhances realism. copernic360 was recently soft-launched through an early-adopter alpha programme. Kagenova has already seen significant interest in the programme, ranging from VR studios and content creators, to large broadcasters and networks.

Commenting on the round, Kagenova’s CEO, Associate Prof. Jason McEwen said:

“We’re thrilled to have seen so much interest in this pre-seed round, our first external fundraising. These funds will allow us to get copernic360 into the hands of users to enhance today’s 360° VR experiences. They will also allow us to develop the core AI techniques behind our next upcoming product.”

Kagenova completed the Augmentor programme run by the Digital Catapult in 2018 for the top virtual and augmented reality startups in the UK. Kagenova was one of the first three startups to receive investment from Vive X in Europe and were recently selected to join the MI Garage, a support programme run by the Digital Catapult for the most promising AI start-ups.