Romanian mixed reality gaming startup raises USD 1.6 million in pre-seed round

Mixed reality (MR) gaming startup MixRift has raised USD 1.6 million in a seven-week pre-seed investment round.

Outsized Ventures and Underline Ventures co-led the round, supported by SOSV, a fund that has invested in only a few gaming companies in over five years, and a number of angel investors, MixRift said.

The funds will support MixRift in accelerating its efforts to develop and publish in-demand mixed reality titles, the company said.

Bobby Voicu, David Pripas, and Andrei Vaduva are the team behind MixRift. Voicu is a serial entrepreneur who previously launched the mobile games studio Mavenhut. David Pripas is a gaming influencer, official Meta AR Partner, and MixRift's CPO, while Andrei Vaduva is the company's CTO.

The launch of headsets such as the Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro has helped increase the adoption of mixed reality. Yet even though Meta has reportedly sold upwards of 20 million Quest headsets, mixed reality content continues to be thin on the ground, the startup's reps argue. MixRift develops games that are easy to pick up yet deeply immersive. The company believes that, with wearables that are as much computing devices as they are gaming, mixed reality will appeal to a wider set of users.

"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," Bobby Voicu, MixRift's CEO, explained.

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.

"We are committed to rapidly prototyping games, getting them into the market, and gathering real user feedback as quickly as possible. We use those insights to improve titles that connect with audiences and replace those that don't. This investment gives us the support we need to take that approach and demonstrates experienced, knowledgeable backers' buy-in to our philosophy," Voicu said.

"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," Outsized Ventures's Lomax Ward, said.

(Photo: Artur Szczybylo/ Dreamstime