Refract Secures An Investment Of $8.5M In SGD And Establishes A New Division Dedicated To Game Development
Refract secures an investment of $8.5M in SGD and establishes a new division dedicated to game development
In a Series A round led by Sea Limited and with participation from international family offices and individual investors, Refract, a Singapore-based extended reality (XR) startup, announced today that it has raised approximately $8.5 million SGD (approximately $6 million) in funding.
The additional funding will be used to accelerate the research and development of AXIS, a wearable full-body motion capture solution that is geared toward gaming applications. The startup also plans to grow its team in preparation for the commercialization of AXIS later this year, in order to better serve the rapidly growing market of gamers, early adopters of new technology, content creators, and fitness enthusiasts. Refract has now raised a total of $9 million in funding through the Series A round of venture capital funding.
A problem statement arose while the three co-founders of Refract were working on a gaming-related project in 2018 when they came across it: "How would one bridge the divide between gaming and physical activity?" Chong Geng Ng, Michael Chng, and Eugene Koh are the three co-founders of Refract. According to Refract Chng's CEO, the solution they came up with was to allow players to use their bodies as game controllers instead of their hands. In their research, the three co-founders came across documents and articles that described cutting-edge technological innovations in gaming and other industries. They recognized a market opportunity and formed Refract as a result.
This funding will allow Refract to move even faster toward its long-term goal of becoming the leading provider of augmented reality and mixed reality gaming experiences, according to Chng.
The funding announcement comes on the heels of the successful completion of a Kickstarter campaign for AXIS and its XR game publishing division, which was created as a result of the Deep Dive Studios acquisition.
The AXIS system, in contrast to full-body motion tracking systems such as Perception Neuron, Rokoko, and Xsens, is designed for use in real-time gaming and entertainment applications. Users can also choose between seven and ten nodes for gaming, or up to seventeen nodes for higher-precision motion tracking, depending on their needs. Despite the fact that AXIS does not require a base station, it does require Wi-Fi in order to communicate with the computer used by the user.
"In addition to being completely wireless and untethered, AXIS will not require any external base stations or configurations. It includes a proprietary inside-out tracking capability as well as everything is contained within the body itself. Occlusion and the space requirements of systems such as the HTC Vive are addressed in this document "Chng provided an explanation to TechCrunch.
Using its games and technology, such as the wearable AXIS, Refract will continue to provide immersive and engaging virtual reality (VR) experiences to a market of 2.9 billion gamers, which is growing every year.
By utilizing its Deep Dive Studios, Refract is able to create more immersive games to complement its current lineup, such as the FreeStriker fighting game, which is currently in development and will be made available for free to all AXIS customers.
Refract's software suite is compatible with existing virtual reality systems and applications, as well as platforms such as the OpenVR, OpenXR, Unity, and Unreal engines, in order to make it more accessible to game developers and content creators in general. Additionally, popular virtual reality headsets such as the Oculus Quest 2, according to Chng, are compatible with AXIS as well.
Increasing the number of vertical and horizontal integrations within the sector is something that Refract is interested in.
Several strategic partnerships have already been established as part of Refract's virtual sports program, including with organizations such as World Taekwondo, which is working with the federation to make Virtual Taekwondo a medal event in the not too distant future. According to Chng, the partnership came about when World Taekwondo recognized an opportunity to gamify the sport and reach a more tech-savvy audience by establishing a new discipline, which led to the formation of the partnership. Refract also plans to include AXIS in the Global Esports Games in Istanbul, Turkey in 2022, which will take place in the same city.
As Chong Geng Ng, executive director of Refract, put it, "AXIS represents an important step forward in the delivery of high-fidelity motion tracking and capture technology to a broader audience; innovating within the space; and delivering even more immersive gaming experiences." "Sea's and our other investors' strong belief in our vision and creativity, as well as the enormous untapped potential of the augmented reality gaming market, is demonstrated by their investment."
In the digital entertainment sector, Jason Ng, vice president of strategic partnerships at Sea's digital entertainment subsidiary, Garena, expressed his excitement about the partnership. "It's exciting to see a Singaporean company like Refract leading the development of cutting-edge XR and VR technologies," Ng said. It gives us great pleasure to assist them in their growth as well as the overall development of Singapore's innovation ecosystem.
"AXIS' enormous potential was recognized by Sea and our other investors, who were impressed by Refract's abilities. The success of the AXIS Kickstarter campaign demonstrates that there is a dedicated community of gamers who share this vision, and we are looking forward to delivering AXIS and FreeStriker to them in 2022, according to the company "Chng shared his thoughts.
