Gymnasium Class, a VR-basketball app, right now introduced it has closed an $8 million spherical of funding. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) led the spherical, with participation from Y Combinator.
The VR app launched within the Meta Quest App Lab, the place it’s at the moment some of the common apps, having been downloaded by over 1 million customers. It’s a mixture of a sports activities app and a social house, and the creators hope to launch its on the Meta Quest retailer later this yr.
Paul Katsen, co-founder and CPO of Gymnasium Class, mentioned in an announcement, “Gymnasium Class is greater than a sport, it’s a digital sport. It allows you to dunk like a professional, grow to be a basketball star, watch, compete, cheer and become involved in the entire expertise of the game. Similar to with actual sports activities, we imagine digital sports activities will see thriving world communities, leagues, leisure and occasions, vogue, commerce, health and extra.”
Andrew Chen, associate at Andreessen Horowitz, added, “We’re satisfied that video games, digital worlds and digital sports activities would be the new social networks. Gymnasium Class indicators the daybreak of digital sports activities. It has the traction and has the proper workforce behind it to appreciate the true potential of social VR. We’re robust believers within the imaginative and prescient and the workforce who’ve already confirmed Gymnasium Class has an enormous viewers and alternative.”