holoride Investor Spotlight #5: Faculty Capital
We’re excited to share another holoride supporter and continue our Investor Spotlight series with key investor Faculty Capital!
Find out more about Faculty Capital and why they have invested in holoride. Enjoy reading!
We spoke with Philipp Zimmerer, Partner at Faculty Capital, and here’s what he had to say about holoride:
Why did you invest in holoride?
holoride stands at the intersection of multiple trends that will completely change the way we think about mobility and entertainment within the next decade. Over the course of life, the average European spends over 4 years in a car. The advent of autonomous driving means that this time can suddenly be used more freely, creating strong demand for an entirely new niche: In-car entertainment.
When evaluating opportunities, we are primarily focused on whether the vision, background, and personality of a team fit the challenge that is being taken on. holoride has been operating for years under the Audi umbrella, and since being spun out as an individual startup in 2019, the team has built technology that has convinced industry partners of the highest caliber, such as Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Disney, Universal Pictures, and more. We have been working closely with Nils and the team for almost a year now, and their clear vision and straightforward execution as well as the careful consideration of feedback from advising parties leave us with nothing but confidence that we are about to witness something exceptional.
Why does the market need holoride?
holoride is anticipating major emerging demand for in-car entertainment. As our lives become ever more intertwined with technology, transit has remained somewhat archaic, with drivers being limited to music or audiobooks for entertainment, while passengers are often prevented from reading, watching movies, or playing video games due to motion sickness. holoride aims to deliver content in an entirely new way, tailored for in-car consumption, and intertwined with cutting-edge trends like Virtual Reality and NFTs.
holoride also leverages blockchain in a unique way: Transparent consideration and compensation of all ecosystem stakeholders, be it end-users, content creators, or car manufacturers. Clarity and immutable data ensure a smooth ecosystem where every participant is treated provably fair.
Why is now the right time?
holoride is leveraging multiple emerging and fast-growing technologies to provide a unique product targeting a clear niche that is yet completely unoccupied. Having the support of several high-caliber partners in the relevant categories (car manufacturers and entertainment/media industry), as well as a strong content pipeline, holoride is in a premier position to capture a majority of the emerging demand for unique and premium in-car entertainment.
About Faculty Capital
Faculty Capital is a value-driven venture capital firm focused on innovative blockchain projects. We mix deep industry expertise with the combined resources of the Faculty Group and an extensive strategic network to deliver value far beyond money to the projects we support.
The Faculty Capital Innovation Fund (FCIF) is a multi-million dollar fund that invests in early-stage blockchain companies with innovative, high growth, or disruptive technologies that have the potential to shake up established markets.
About holoride
The German startup holoride creates an entirely new media category for passengers by connecting XR content with data points from the vehicle in real-time. These data points include physical feedback like acceleration and steering, traffic data, as well as travel route and time.
Open to all content creators and car companies, the technology has the power to change backseat entertainment forever; holoride technology significantly reduces motion sickness, opens up a new layer of immersion in games or educational journeys, and creates a stunningly immersive experience.
The tech startup was founded end of 2018 in Munich, Germany by Nils Wollny, Marcus Kuehne, Daniel Profendiner, and Audi, which holds a minority stake in the startup. It was hailed four times “Best of CES” (Las Vegas, Jan 2019) and has been acknowledged as “Best Inventions of 2019” by TIME Magazine. In 2021, holoride went on to win the prestigious SXSW Pitch and was also named Best in Show.
