Having already collected $68m in a series A round backed by Stanford University earlier this year, Sandbox VR has added $11m to its coffers thanks to a long list of celebrities.
Sandbox VR, a US-based virtual reality technology developer backed by Stanford University, has raised $11m in funding co-led by Andreesen Horowitz’s Cultural Leadership Fund and David Sacks, according to TechCrunch.
The round also included a series of celebrities, including Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom and Will Smith, as well as angel investors Michael Ovitz, Honda Keisuke and Kevin Durant.
Sandbox VR provides virtual reality games in physical spaces, such as shopping centres, to allow users to freely roam large environments and undertake tasks such as fighting zombies.
The company’s partnerships include an agreement with media firm CBS Interactive Studios to develop a game based on the Star Trek franchise.
Sandbox has not specified what it intends to do with the latest round but noted that having private backers from the music and film industries would help its branding efforts. Sandbox also hopes to increase its presence from six locations to 16 by the end of 2020.
The company previously raised $68m in a series A round backed by Stanford University in January 2019. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, while e-commerce group Alibaba, Floodgate, CRCM Ventures and TriplePoint Capital also participated.
