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InnovationQuarter invests in Tiledmedia to significantly increase reach of Virtual Reality

Contact /Tanja Baars Datum /
During the Rotterdam Capital Days event today, Venture Café’s Executive Director Anoesjka Imambaks announced that InnovationQuarter has joined the group of investors in Dutch Virtual Reality start-up Tiledmedia. The Rotterdam-based spin-off from national research institute TNO enables a significant increase in the quality of Virtual Reality services and a reduction in the required bandwidth for streaming VR content. Tiledmedia’s ClearVR technology removes one of the biggest obstacles preventing Virtual Reality from becoming widely accessible. With the capital injection, which is further boosted by a recent innovation loan granted by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), Tiledmedia has close to € 2 mln. available for accelerating its development and expanding its sales and marketing activities

InnovationQuarter invests in Tiledmedia to significantly increase reach of Virtual Reality-002-980x450

Unrealised potential of Virtual Reality

Despite the many potential applications, Virtual Reality (VR) is only slowly catching on, for two main reasons: the limited availability of content and the high bandwidth required to stream VR – too high for the average internet connection. Tiledmedia solves this problem by cutting up the content into so-called ‘tiles’ and only streaming those tiles that are in the users’ view. The user sees only 13% of the full image, which makes sending the entire panorama very inefficient.

InnovationQuarter brings experience and an extensive network to the table thanks to the many companies it funds. This will certainly help us in the further expansion of Tiledmedia. – Frits Klok, CEO at Tiledmedia

Tiledmedia’s ClearVR technology can either increase quality by a factor of five at the same bandwidth, or stream the same quality as current applications with up to 80% bandwidth reduction. Such substantial efficiency benefits cannot be matched by any competing technology.

Opening the door to a wider audience

Distributors of VR content benefit from the Tiledmedia technology because they can stream their VR productions in the highest possible quality to the widest possible audience at substantially lower costs. This makes it more attractive for media companies to produce VR content, overcoming any cost-related challenges, and serving as a catalyst for the VR market. The company’s technology makes it possible, for instance, to experience your favourite sports event or pop concert live as if you were there, while being at home on the couch with a VR headset.

International network

Founded in early 2017 by Frits Klok (CEO), Ray van Brandenburg (CTO), Arjen Veenhuizen (COO) and Rob Koenen (CBO), Tiledmedia has an experienced management team with a large international network. Rob Koenen is President of the Virtual Reality Industry Forum (VRIF) and plays an important role in international standardisation of media­ technology in ISO/IEC MPEG, known for its MP3 specification. Working at TNO, the founding team spent five years developing the tiled streaming technology, which achieved great commercial potential with the advent of VR.

Widely recognised name

Tiledmedia is a widely recognised name in the global VR ecosystem. In April, the company co-exhibited at the NAB Media Technology Show in Las Vegas alongside industry leaders Ericsson and Harmonic to showcase its ClearVR solution. Tiledmedia’s first customer will soon launch a spectacular VR service and various international parties have expressed interest in integrating ClearVR into their VR platforms.

“Welcoming InnovationQuarter to the existing group of angel investors means that we have the necessary fuel to further develop our marketing and sales, while bringing a professional fund on board,” says Frits Klok, Tiledmedia’s CEO. “InnovationQuarter brings experience and an extensive network to the table thanks to the many companies it funds. This will certainly help us in the further expansion of Tiledmedia.”

Francis Quint, head of InnovationQuarter Capital: “Tiledmedia is a spin-off from TNO, a partner of InnovationQuarter and an important organisation in our regional ecosystem. In addition to the capital injection from the consortium of business angels, this investment by InnovationQuarter will help Tiledmedia commercialise its VR technology and make the application of VR accessible to a wider audience.”