MixRift, which develops Mixed Reality games, has scored $1.6 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by SOSV (which invested in Voyage Foods and Samphire Neuroscience), Outsized Ventures, and Underline Ventures. According to the company’s press release, MixRift is developing the ‘Angry Birds’ of mixed reality, filling a significant gap in the current XR landscape.
Talking about the investors, SOSV is not new to gaming investments; they have previously invested in the sector, including in MavenHut, the former gaming company of Bobby Voicu, the founder and CEO of MixRift.
In contrast, Outsized and Underline have not made gaming investments before, although Bogdan Iordache of Underline has experience in this area from previous ventures.
Talking about the investment, Lomax Ward at Outsized Ventures, 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.”
How will it use the investment?
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.
Who is behind the company?
Bobby Voicu, David Pripas, and Andrei Vaduva founded MixRift based in Bucharest and Dublin. Voicu told TFN, they previously co-founded the gaming startup MavenHut, in 2012. He grew that company to 35 people and sold their successful games a few years later. Starting last year, he published the XR Gaming Digest newsletter to better understand the XR space.
Pripas was the Product lead at MavenHut and, after he left the company he got involved in the Augmented Reality space. He became an official AR Partner with Meta, creating and prototyping augmented reality experiences on the platform. His work includes Instagram AR effects that gathered billions of views, ranging from face filters to complex AR games.
Vaduva worked in gaming for the last 12 years, he was the CTO of MavenHut and, after leaving the company, he worked for studios like Amber and Green Horse Games/Miniclip.
What does the company do?
The launch of headsets such as the Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro has helped increase the adoption of mixed reality. Despite the sale of over 20 million Meta Quest headsets, mixed reality content continues to be thin on the ground.
MixRift’s approach develops games that are easy to pick up yet deeply immersively. 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. The company aims to make the gaming landscape more interactive, accessible, and enjoyable for players worldwide with its games designed for mixed reality headsets, such as Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3.
Its games are designed to be intuitive, allowing for seamless integration into our users’ daily lives, ensuring that every adventure is just another reality away. As per the company, it is creating experiences that leave a lasting impression, fostering a community of players excited about the future of MR gaming.
Bobby Voicu, MixRift’s CEO, said, “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 capitalise on the opportunity. 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.”
What do we think about MixRift?
The game developer is poised to become a major player in the burgeoning mixed reality (MR) industry. With a strong founding team experienced in both gaming and augmented reality, the company is well-positioned to create engaging and immersive MR experiences. Its focus on rapid prototyping and user feedback ensures a dynamic and responsive approach to game development, likely leading to successful titles that resonate with a wide audience and drive future growth.
