The virtual reality market is on pace to reach $160B/yr by 2023. VR sets like Oculus’s Quest 2 becoming more and more accessible to the masses contributes to this expected meteoric growth. ForeVR, launched by two early Zynga employees, is a VR-focused gaming studio looking to bring popular games to the virtual reality universe. The company’s first title, launched in the Spring, is a bowling game that combines real gameplay with stunning visuals and is designed for all ages.
LA TechWatch caught up with CEO Marcus Segal to learn more about the company’s launch, strategic plans, hosting fundraising meetings within the company’s Bowling game, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $8.5M, and much, much more.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
To date, ForeVR Games has raised a total of $8.5 million in Seed and Seed + funding. Seed capital was provided by Galaxy Interactive Fund, Presence Capital, Twitch co-founder and CEO Emmett Shear and his cofounder Justin Kan and Zynga founders Mark Pincus, Justin Waldron, and Andrew “AT” Trader. This latest round is led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with Galaxy Interactive and All Star Capital.
Tell us about your product or service.
We aim to translate the most popular and classic “in-real-life” games into compelling games you can play with friends and family, starting with ForeVR Bowl.
What inspired the start of ForeVR?
We both love VR and saw the opportunity to build accessible games that bring people together into a shared play space as something really exciting to work on. We believe that the launch of the Quest 2 and the other headsets coming from Sony and Apple have signaled that VR’s time has finally arrived and we are excited to be there with incredible social games as new players discover this incredible technology.
How is it different?
We are taking everything we learned at Zynga about making mass-market social games and are infusing it into ForeVR’s deeply immersive VR games. All ForeVR Games are designed to be accessible by people of all ages and abilities. We have had grandparents going bowling with their grandchildren and it’s just great. No other developer that we are aware of has our focus on appealing to the broadest possible audience. We have an accessibility advisor and my 83-year-old dad is an official tester.
What market you are targeting and how big is it?
It’s early days for VR in general but it’s growing fast. According to Statista, augmented and virtual reality market forecast, this number is rising steadily and could potentially reach a staggering $160 billion by 2023. Both AR and VR industry growth are predicted to skyrocket in the coming years, and the VR adoption rate will keep increasing.
What’s your business model?
We currently sell ForeVR Bowl in the Oculus store as a 1-time download and we will soon be available on Steam.
How has the business impacted by COVID-19?
We started ForeVR Games during the pandemic and have had to adapt a lot. Raising money remotely was particularly tough! Ultimately though our goal is to bring people together in play and we know our players have really appreciated ForeVR Bowl. In fact, we found that usage is high among different ages and sectors but we have a lot of senior citizens playing it. They’re finding it gives them a sense of community, which is what we were aiming for with ForeVR Games.
What was the funding process like?
We raised a small seed round of $1.5M to start in July of 2020 and built ForeVR Bowl in just 10 months. Sam Engelbardt and the team at Galaxy Interactive and Amitt Mahajan at Presence Capital provided a lot of support in the early days. Pitching the Seed + was tough until we started inviting investors to meet us in the Alpha build of ForeVR Bowl instead of over Zoom. The game really speaks for itself and we were fortunate to find great long-term partners with Bessemer Ventures and Galaxy Interactive.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Two big challenges: 1. VR had a false start back in 2016. A lot of investors saw the potential but got burned back when headsets cost $1K+ and had to be tethered to $2K desktops. 2. Lack of availability of headsets. The Quest 2 launched in Q4 of last year and was immediately a hard-to-get item. Most of the VCs I spoke to in Q1 did not yet have one! And it’s not like I could drive to their offices or homes during COVID to let them borrow my headset because I needed it and part of the magic is meeting up in the game.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
It’s really early days for VR but all of the signs look great. Facebook released a 28-page report in June 2021 about the future opportunities of VR and AR and according to its research and says that 75 percent of all business owners expect to be utilizing AR and VR technology in some capacity over the next two years.
I also think it comes down to their belief in the team that we have assembled. I was fortunate enough to work with some of the most talented women and men in gaming at Zynga. Together we built a portfolio of games that entertained hundreds of millions of people and generated billions of dollars in revenue.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We plan to release more fun bowling alleys in ForeVR Bowl and we have two other games coming to market in Q4 and Q1 2022.
What advice can you offer companies in Los Angeles that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
I would humbly offer the same advice I gave to the startups I worked with at Y-Combinator and Google Launchpad — It’s all about the 4 P’s — People, Product, Process, and Perseverance.
I would humbly offer the same advice I gave to the startups I worked with at Y-Combinator and Google Launchpad — It’s all about the 4 P’s — People, Product, Process, and Perseverance.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We really want to get more games out and deliver incredible experiences to our players. We want to build a brand that audiences recognize for quality and value.
What is your favorite restaurant in LA?
Just one? I am obsessed with the duck at Sun Ha Jang in K-town. Hasiba for hummus is also not to be missed.
