NEW YORK (PRWEB) October 28, 2020
SIP Global Partners, a Japan-US headquartered VC firm that invests in transformative global technology, today announced it is leading a $7.5 million Series A round for Tilt Five. Tilt Five is an entertainment system provider that uses proprietary augmented reality (AR) glasses, a game board and a wand controller to engage players in tabletop and video games in 3D holographic environments. As part of the investment, General Partner of SIP Global Partners Jeffrey Smith will join Tilt Five’s Board of Directors. Other participants in the round include top-tier investors BITKRAFT Ventures, Galaxy Interactive, Logitech and games industry innovator Ken Birdwell. Following its $1.7 million Kickstarter campaign in October 2019, the largest AR crowdfunding campaign ever, Tilt Five will use the Series A funding to hire additional employees, build partnerships and expand available content.
“SIP Global Partners invested in Tilt Five because we believe that, with its revolutionary approach to AR and deeply collaborative experiences, Tilt Five is poised to be the first globally successful consumer AR game system,” said Jeffrey Smith, General Partner of SIP Global Partners and Board Member of Tilt Five. “We’ve been closely following Tilt Five’s CEO Jeri Ellsworth’s career and believe she and her team have the technical acumen and depth of experience to make Tilt Five an incredible success.”
“At Tilt Five, we’re creating an AR experience that will magically bring games to life and introduce game players to a new way of interacting with each other,” said Jeri Ellsworth, CEO of Tilt Five, entrepreneur and world-renowned computer chip designer. “With the support of SIP Global Partners and Jeffrey Smith on the Tilt Five Board, Tilt Five has a bright future.”
“A creator of truly new experiences like Jeri only comes once in a generation,” said Nolan Bushnell, Founder of Atari. “The Tilt Five platform that she and her team have built is absolutely magical. I’m confident that this will be the next big thing in AR and gaming.”
Tilt Five engages players in remarkably immersive tabletop and video games in shared 3D holographic environments. Players will be able to enter dynamic worlds, as popular games spring to life, allowing them to explore, battle and solve puzzles with friends both locally and remotely on their tabletops. Features include:
- Tilt Five™ AR glasses that are designed with a patented and unprecedented 110-degree field-of-view optical system, bringing immersive 3D worlds to life right on the table with vivid colors and natural depth of field
- The glasses weigh just under 95 grams, one-third of typical mixed-reality headsets, and provide a comfortable experience for all-day game sessions
- A six-degrees-of-freedom wand controller that enables players to reach into and physically control and interact with the environments and characters
- An embedded camera system that tracks physical objects like game pieces and hands and seamlessly blends them with virtual ones
- Stereo speakers and microphone so players can immerse themselves in solo experiences or converse with their friends while playing together remotely
- A unique optical system that gives each player their own view into shared virtual worlds. No need for split screens or hiding card decks, players can still call out to each other and see the physical world around them
Games of all genres work with Tilt Five™, including simulation, RPG adventures, puzzle, esports, arcade, strategy games, classic tabletop, action video and party games. Content from third-party developers will include games from Tabletopia, HappyGiant, Playito, Monocle Society, Deck13, GFX47 and Battle Map Studio.
According to Newzoo, global video game sales are expected to top $159 billion in 2020, growing 9.3% annually, and, according to Goldman Sachs, the augmented reality headset market is valued at $6.8 billion in 2020, growing at a staggering 250% over the past year. SIP Global Partners believes these are strong tailwinds for widespread market adoption of Tilt Five’s technology.
Tilt Five has begun ramping up production and will commence shipping kits to Kickstarter backers and pre-order customers over the coming months. Tilt Five™ XE kits include a pair of AR glasses, a game board and a wand. XE Kits are currently $359 and are available to pre-order at https://www.tiltfive.com/. Tilt Five will also provide Social Kits that will include 3 AR glasses, 3 wands and a gameboard, available in Q2 2021.
About SIP Global Partners
SIP Global Partners invests in transformative US technology startups as a cross-border VC partner to accelerate growth across Asia, including Japan, ASEAN and the GCC. SIP leverages its dual-headquarters in the US and Japan, its principals’ 40-year history of building global companies and unique market access to accelerate international growth for portfolio companies into massive markets with underserved entry points across Asia. The fund invests in companies driving the “Global Connected Economy” in sectors such as AR/VR/XR, AI/ML, edge computing, digital media, network Infrastructure (5G), gaming and enterprise software. Limited partners include Global Tech 50 corporates and top-tier family offices. For more information, visit http://www.sipgp.com.
About Tilt Five
Tilt Five is an entertainment system provider that uses augmented reality (AR) glasses, a game board and a wand controller to engage players in tabletop and video games in 3D holographic environments. Founded by a team of technical visionaries with decades of experience working for consumer technology leaders such as Valve and Google, Tilt Five aims to provide a comfortable, social and immersive AR experience for consumers. Tilt Five is backed by over 3,000 Kickstarters, SIP Global Partners, BITKRAFT Ventures, Galaxy Interactive, Logitech and games industry leader Ken Birdwell. Founded in November 2017, Tilt Five is headquartered in Silicon Valley. Please visit http://www.tiltfive.com and follow us on Twitter.
Media Contacts
Sandra Yee, Tilt Five, [email protected], (916) 425-2085.
Mia Carbonell, SIP Global Partners, [email protected], (917) 673-0903.
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