Disney and More Invest $65 million in Jaunt VR

The availability of high quality, engaging content is paramount to the long term success of cinematic virtual reality as a medium. Last week, Disney-owned ABC News debuted ABC News VR, allowing users to experience a news report from Damascus using a smartphone, Jaunt’s VR app and Google Cardboard.

Another leader of the $65 million round was Evolution Media Partners, a growth equity and investment joint venture from TPG Growth, Evolution Media Capital and Participant Media.

Virtual reality is fast growing from a niche technology aimed primarily at gamers through devices such as Oculus Rift and Samsung VR to a dynamic way for content creators in both the advertising and entertainment fields to present their stories to consumers. This latest round of funding will enable Jaunt to significantly scale up VR production, and advance their professional-grade camera hardware and software production tools, delivering content to the widest array of mobile devices and VR hardware in the industry.

“Live [VR] video is an exciting area, especially with types of sports that are more intimate, where you’re up close to action, like basketball, martial arts, boxing and even tennis”, he said.

But don’t expect to be wearing a VR headset in theaters just yet.

Until that glimpse of magic grows to be a two-hour, star-studded film, Mr. Christensen is hopeful that virtual reality will evolve on the big screen and become a normal part of our daily lives, as most technology has already proved itself to be. “Jaunt’s unique end-to-end solution for producing and publishing high-quality VR experiences is cutting edge, and we are excited about its future potential”.

“When Jaunt launched a little over 2 years ago, VR was the domain of a few enthusiasts like us”, said David Anderman, Jaunt’s Chief Business Officer. Jaunt have now announced that they’re to receive a further, sizeable injection of capital with a new round of investment lead by entertainment, animation and movie giant Disney – this time to the tune of a cool $65M.

“I find virtual reality to be the most compelling new visual medium to come onto the entertainment landscape in my lifetime”, Evolution Media co-managing partner Rick Hess told The Journal.

Fenwick & West and The Raine Group advised Jaunt on the transaction. “It’s going to open an entirely new monetization market for the industry”.

But issues like movie length haven’t stopped Oculus Story Studio, which released the VR short film Henry in July 2015. “All the major studios have greenlit some experience”, he says. The amount of money flowing into virtual reality has exploded.