Japanese Virtual Concert Company VARK raises $7.2 Million Raise for global rollout

Tokyo-headquartered “virtual live music event platform” VARK has announced an “approximately one billion yen” ($7.16 million at the present exchange rate) first close of its Series C.

The six-year-old virtual-concert company, which says it likewise develops “metaverse templates” as well as “video creation support tools for 3D avatars,” just recently unveiled the multimillion-dollar raise. Founded and led by former Capcom game designer Takuya Kato, VARK has according to its Japanese-language website organized a number of shows featuring animated “artists” such as Shirakami Fubuki and Ookami Mio.

VARK presented some of these shows as part of weeks-long series, per the business’s website, including one virtual festival called Cinderella Switch. Standard passes to the digital happening – which saw certain acts perform and then “sit” next to viewers’ avatars in the audience while others took the stage – cost a cool ¥4,480 (currently $32.04) apiece for those interested in watching in virtual reality (on Meta’s Oculus Quest/Oculus Quest 2 or PlayStation VR).

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Nevertheless, CEO Takuya Kato emphasized the belief that it’ll take far more than $7.2 million to execute his ambitious global-buildout plans for VARK.

“In Japan, it is often said that raising one billion yen is seed raising, and we believe that is exactly the case in the metaverse field,” relayed Kato. “We need at least ten times this amount of funding and more people to help us spread our culture around the world. We need partners outside of Japan as we continue our international expansion next year and the year after that.”

Last September, months after partnering with SM Entertainment, AmazeVR revealed that it had raised another $17 million. More recently, Tencent Music added its name to a growing list of music companies that are pushing tracks and concerts from virtual “artists.”

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