BBC Ventures, an investment arm set up by the UK’s public service broadcaster in 2022, has announced its first investment — into Bristol, UK-based 3D video streaming platform Condense.
The BBC is putting £500k into the startup, which has previously raised from VCs including LocalGlobe and 7percent Ventures, and angel investors Tom Blomfield, founder of Monzo, and Ian Hogarth, founder of Songkick and now partner at London VC Plural. The company — which was founded in 2019 has now raised more than £5m, last landing £4.5m in a 2022 seed round.
The investment will also see Condense’s technology used in the BBC’s ‘New Music Portal’, where audiences will be able to watch 3D-rendered gigs and live performances on mobile or desktop.
What does Condense do?
Condense has developed a hardware and software system that records live events, using a rig of multiple cameras around a venue. The separate video feeds are then combined, using proprietary software, to create a single 3D render of the event, which audiences can move around in using a virtual avatar in a video-game-like experience.
“The world can now come together in-game to experience live music,” says Nick Fellingham, Condense’s CEO. “You can attend a gig with your cousin who lives hundreds of miles away and share a real moment with your favourite artist through the New Music Portal.”
The BBC has already trialled the tech, streaming a performance by British singer-songwriter Sam Tompkins in May — the first time the artist had performed in a virtual environment.
“The more that this technology moves on, the more we’re going to get closer to that live experience and I think that’s so special,” he says. “This is a much more accessible way for people to hear live music and I’m all for that.”
What’s the market like?
The BBC’s investment into Condense comes as frosty attitudes towards metaverse technologies are perhaps beginning to thaw.
The launch of Apple’s Vision Pro headset earlier this year was heralded by some as a breakthrough moment for consumer VR technology, with celebs like T-Pain helping to spur on a buzzy launch for the new product.
And, with the crypto winter possibly coming to an end, there’s a renewed interest in Web3 technologies that could enable more and more virtual experiences and worlds in the future.
There is, of course, a very big open question around how many people actually want to watch events like music concerts in 3D virtual environments, but those who are trying to push the technology forward say it could make live entertainment more accessible and affordable to more people.
Source: https://sifted.eu/articles/bbc-ventures-makes-first-investment-metaverse-news