In a Nutshell
- MixRift, a mixed reality (MR) gaming start-up, has secured €1.5M pre-seed round, closed in a quick 7-weeks span.
- The round was co-led by the Romanian Underline Ventures and the UK Outsized Ventures and joined by the American SOSV.
Mixed Reality and Gaming
Founded by the 3 Romanians, MixRift develops immersive games, some of them being already available on the Meta Quest Store (Fractured and Hell Horde) or App Store (Fractured). With the launch of headsets such as the Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro, mixed reality is spread and adopted much faster by users.
Bobby Voicu, David Pripas and Andrei Vaduva are the team behind the start-up. Voicu is a serial entrepreneur, industry visionary and XR influencer who previously launched mobile games studio Mavenhut. David is a gaming influencer, official Meta AR Partner and MixRift’s CPO, while Andrei is the company’s CTO.
“We’re at the very beginning of what mixed reality could do for gamers. We know there is a huge untapped market, and our founding team knows what it takes to create the games that hook those players in. This puts us in a unique position to capitalize on the opportunity,” comments Voicu, the company’s CEO.
MixRift will use the investment to continue its development and plans to release further titles later in 2024. The company believes focusing on game mechanics over specific titles will help quickly identify what resonates with audiences.
The Next Big Thing in Gaming
From the investor’s perspective, Lomax Ward at Outsized Ventures adds:
“Mixed reality has immense potential, demonstrated by the likes of Meta and Apple committing heavily to the sector. MixRift’s founding team has deep knowledge and experience, positioning the company to take advantage of both the demand from players and the growing interest in MR. We are pleased to be backing the team as MixRift grows.”
Interestingly, SOSV, the American VC investing mostly in climate and tech solutions, have welcomed MixRift to their portfolio as one of the few gaming investments.
