Samsung invests in FOVE, a crowdfunded VR company
We all know that Samsung is trying to get into the VR market in a big way, and it has already launched two VR headsets, the Gear VR Innovator Edition for the Galaxy Note 4 and the Galaxy S6. Both of them are made in collaboration with Oculus, a popular name in the VR industry.
Samsung has close ties with Oculus, a Facebook company, but that isn’t stopping the Korean electronics giant from investing in other VR companies. FOVE, a crowdfunded Japan-based VR company, has announced that it has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Samsung Ventures, which now joins Microsoft Ventures London Accelerator and Rothenberg Ventures as investors in the company. “Our investment in FOVE is evidence of our belief in FOVE’s superior technology and we believe FOVE will launch a competitive VR device in the market soon,” said Samsung Ventures.
FOVE’s virtual reality headset, which is already available for pre-order from KickStarter, the first and only to offer eye-tracking at a consumer-friendly price point. This technology helps in achieving foveated rendering, better depth of field, and reduction in motion sickness. Maybe this technology was the reason why Samsung is interested in this company. FOVE also stated that the investment from Samsung will help them in ensuring support for OpenVR API, a technology that will allow the headset to support SteamVR games. The company is hopeful to ship its headsets to consumers starting in Spring 2016.