High Fidelity provides an open-source, scalable platform for creating immersive 3D virtual worlds, with high-resolution environments, realistic avatars, and low end-to-end latency to support natural interaction. The platform includes a blockchain-based Digital Asset Registry to ensure content rights and ownership, a High Fidelity Marketplace for buying and selling virtual goods, and Javascript-based multi-user creator tools for building environments and objects. It also powers an economy with its own cryptocurrency, High Fidelity Coin (HFC), a high-speed stablecoin designed for near-instantaneous, low-cost transactions. The company helped found the Virtual Reality Blockchain Alliance to define interoperability protocols for VR. Led by CEO and co-founder Philip Rosedale, High Fidelity is focused on enabling performers, educators, makers, entrepreneurs and brands to create and host social VR experiences and allow visitors to carry a consistent avatar identity between worlds. The company raised a $35M Series D and intends to use funds to continue development of a global VR infrastructure while expanding R&D, accelerating hiring, and opening a new Seattle office. High Fidelity is developing an open-source social VR platform that captures gaze, facial expressions and body language using inexpensive webcams and motion controllers to create more expressive avatars. The company tracks character movement, mouth motion and simple eyebrow and eye animations while avoiding fully realistic models to sidestep the Uncanny Valley. It is also working on scalability technology to render virtual worlds online and support much larger audiences and more content. The newly announced funding will be used to build out the platform and tackle those scaling challenges. High Fidelity plans to open an alpha for developers soon and is hiring to grow the team. Founder Philip Rosedale, known for Second Life, intends the product to make social VR as easy as a FaceTime call, with a library of user-created rooms and experience informed by hosting thousands of worlds in Minecraft. High Fidelity was founded by Philip Rosedale and includes co‑founders Freddy Heiberger and Ryan Karpf. The company’s website emphasizes reducing latency in real‑time online interaction, indicating a focus on improving online communication. A job posting states the team is prototyping the technology and user experience of a next‑generation virtual reality system. Financially, an SEC filing shows High Fidelity has raised $2.4 million toward a planned $3.4 million round. The filing lists Rosedale, Heiberger, and Karpf; Heiberger and Karpf previously worked with Rosedale at Linden Lab and co‑founded his prior startup, Coffee and Power. The company culture detail reported in the article notes employees sometimes wear lab coats to work.

Total raised

$48M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series D

Latest activity

Jun 2018