INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The world of VR has had its ups and downs, and yet there still plenty of activity from the world largest technology companies to build
platforms that ultimately define the medium.Supermedium, a recent Y Combinator graduate, wants a more open future for virtual reality, one
The company launched earlier this year and now it raising some seed funding as it looks to keep things moving along.The company just raised
$1.1 million in seed funding from Y Combinator, General Catalyst, Boost VC, Anorak Ventures, Candela Partners, Social Starts, M Ventures,
Seraph Group, Taimatsu, Outpost VC, Colopl Next, Shrug VC, Andrew Ogawa and Cantos VC.Supermedium was founded by a couple of Mozilla alums
that were behind some of the company foundational work on the WebVR standard
WebVR has been admittedly slow to catch on as major stakeholders have largely been looking to direct nascent attention toward their
sandboxed platforms and stores rather than to something so democratic as a browser that can work with all major headsets.The process of
getting up-and-running in desktop WebVR might just mean navigating to a particular URL and tossing on your headset
It really not much more difficult than that, and Mozilla has already introduced some early projects that show just how simple it is
As more and more momentum aligns behind standalone systems, the Supermedium browser exists as a bespoke solution for VR devices that is
structured around VR controls in VR environments.The startup sees the shift to WebVR as an inevitability; now the company says their
challenge is staying lean and keeping their noses to the ground in a bid to gather an early passionate base of users that can grow
exponentially as more substantial hardware comes to market.Supermedium launches its virtual reality web browser backed by Y CombinatorRight
now, Supermedium is focusing on higher-end systems like the Rift and HTC Vive that support positional tracking and hand controllers
This focus on the high end admittedly dwindles down the market size even further as headsets like the Oculus Go and Gear VR are unsupported,
but the team sees this focus on quality as something that will only be controversial in the near-term as headset-makers like Oculus and
other begin progressing more steadily toward releasing standalone devices with tracked controllers.More important than which devices they
support is what experiences and utility they offer users
While Supermedium has been putting a lot of effort into building a hub for &snackable& VR experiences that brings WebVR games and journeys
into a nice interface that users can blaze through, the company tells me the biggest chunk of their usage is still coming from people trying
to find an easy way to navigate VR-optimized adult content.Recently, the company also introduced Supercraft, a set of quick-and-dirty
content creation tools that can allow users to build inside the browser and share their work with a URL.Supermedium certainly has some tough
challenges ahead as the startup looks to work its way into a tight niche and find ways to promote WebVR development, but the company has
some key cross-platform strengths of the web moving with it, which shouldn&t be underestimated.
