Posted on Tuesday, September 13 2016 @ 12:37 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Gaming peripheral company Razer announced the creation of zVentures, a dedicated unit that will focus on investing in startups and emerging technology. Razer has earmarked $30 million for zVentures and promises startups support in terms of operational resources, distribution channels and partner networks.
Razer™, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced the establishment of zVentures, a dedicated arm of Razer Inc. that will identify and exploit investment and funding opportunities with innovative new businesses and emerging technologies.
The premise behind Razer's new initiative is rooted in its belief that financial returns should be balanced against the objectives of innovation and strategic progress. To that end, zVentures will specifically focus on start-ups and emerging companies that will have a role to play in the expansion of Razer's product platform.
Additionally, other business units and functions within the wider Razer ecosystem will look to zVentures as an embedded partner for business development, as a source of inspiration for new product advents, and as a prism through which to attract new talent into developing areas of business.
"Razer has a long history of supporting partners, third-party product and business development," says Razer Co-Founder and CEO Min-Liang Tan. "The cumulative benefit of those initiatives over the past decade has been very positive and significant. zVentures promises to take the sensibilities of our ventures work forward with far greater reach and impact."
As the market leader in the gaming categories for connected devices and software, Razer is uniquely positioned to identify, execute and manage corporate venturing opportunities in its core market and adjacent spaces.
Razer plans to dedicate up to $30 million initially for zVentures. This will include $5 million for VR-related investments including funding of content development (under the OSVR Developer Fund) and $5 million for Android game publishing and investments (under the OUYA Publishing banner).
Categories of interest for zVentures include early-stage investments in "Internet of Things" enterprises (connected devices); software and analytics, including "big data"; advanced manufacturing and engineering; gaming software technology; virtual and augmented reality; eSports and robotics.
Beneficiary companies should be free to continue operating independently and work with other industry partners, build non-gaming products and seek investment from third parties.
"At the end of the day, we are attracted to emerging companies with opportunities for massive growth and improvement that can leverage on our experience and expertise," says Tan. "Our contributions could include supply chain management, sales and marketing, capital or any number of considerations. Ideally, target companies will very naturally tap into the extensive networks and resources available throughout the wider Razer ecosystem."
The zVentures Fund will be administered globally from of Razer's corporate offices in San Francisco and Singapore. The team, led by Tan, has already started to actively look at investments.
For more information, please visit http://zv.razerzone.com/.
