VR startup Absentia raises Pre-Series A funding led by Exfinty Ventures

By Shariq Hussain

Posted on April 18, 2017

Virtual Reality Startup Absentia has won Pre-Series A funding of Rs 8 Crore led by Early-Stage investors Exfinity Ventures. The funding round also saw the participation of Sprout Venture Partners and Krishnamoorthy Ananthasivam, a former vice-president at Infosys Ltd.

In November 2015, the startup raised Seed funding of Rs 1.2 Crore from Astarac Ventures and clutch of angel investors.

The Bangalore-Based startup was founded in the year 2015 by BITS Pilani, Goa dropouts Shubham Mishra,  Vrushali Prasade and Harikrishna Valiyath. Absentia VR has developed Norah AI, which is an artificial-intelligence powered engine that creates 360 degrees panoramic content from 2D videos or images. It uses proprietary algorithms that stitch individual images together and add depth of field to photographs for an immersive experience.

Shubham Mishra, CEO, and co-founder of Absentia, said: “With Norah AI, we are aiming to become the world’s first auto content generation company with a focus on the media and entertainment segment. Over the past few months, the team has been successful in monetizing the platform in the area of virtual reality, augmented reality and image processing across select sectors.”

Norah AI creates AAA games with minimal human intervention. The platform offers game developers in-build tools which will help them to design, develop and build interactive content.

The R&D trial of the product is currently being carried out in California, New York, and Stockholm, and it will be available for public release by the middle of 2017.

The startup will use the fresh fund to build Norah AI, an artificial intelligence engine that can create a new set of interactive content, such as arcade games, casual games, puzzles, animation, and graphics, with just a few lines of text or pictorial input.

Exfinity Venture Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in technology product companies in the B2B space. They are mostly focused on funding technology ventures. They have invested in Mumbai-Based fitness startup Fitternity, Chennai-based AI startup Mad Street Den, Bangalore-Based Tech Startup River Silica, Data Space startup IQLECT and other technology-driven companies.

Virtual Reality is a potential multi-billion dollar market worldwide, and India is one of the emerging markets. According to recently released TechSci Research report, virtual reality (VR)market in India is projected to register a CAGR of 55.3% during 2016 – 2021. Read more about Indian Startup Ecosystem.

VR startup Absentia raises Pre-Series A funding led by Exfinty Ventures