Virtual reality game studio Alta raises $12.4M

Virtual reality game studio Alta has raised $12.4 million in a funding round that shows that “metaverse” companies are in a boom.

The Sydney and San Francisco-based company said it has assembled a team of game developers who make experiences that “push the boundaries of virtual worlds.” It also called itself a “metaverse studio,” where the metaverse refers to the universe of virtual worlds that are all interconnected, like in novels such as Snow Crash and Ready Player One. 

We’re starting our own GamesBeat Summit: Into the Metaverse 2 online conference today in observance of this big trend, which is generating a lot of buzz and funding for game companies.

Makers Fund and Andreessen Horowitz led the round. Other investors include Pioneer Fund, Boost VC, muru-D and Thomas Rice.

Alta is a team of video game developers who aim to make experiences that push the boundaries of virtual worlds. Over the next few months, Alta will use the funding to further develop proprietary content and IP, expand the team and position the game for new platforms. As part of the funding, founding partner at Makers Fund Jay Chi will join Alta’s board of directors.

Alta first gained traction mid-2021 when its first game, open world VR RPG A Township Tale, launched on the Oculus Quest 2. An original creation, the team spent several years internally developing and refining A Township Tale and nurturing its user community.

Upon its release, it spent more than seven weeks at No. 1 on the Oculus charts, produced historical engagement metrics for the platform and currently hosts the No. 2 VR Discord community worldwide.

“Alta started out with a single quest: to create worlds that bring people together,” said Tima Anoshechkin, CEO of Alta, in a statement. “This funding helps us expand that vision beyond just growing our flagship game, and allows us to expand the team, create new opportunities and partnerships to collaborate with, and continue to develop world-class technology whether with VR or other platforms. Whenever and wherever you are playing, our experience will always be
engaging, seamless and fun.”

Alta focuses on social experiences and community. Its is working on future game projects with “potential for large-scale online social worlds with partners and major IP.”

“For two years now we have been fans of Alta’s compelling vision for a deeply immersive space built around cooperative exploration, and we continue to be impressed by Tima and his team’s first major milestone — creating a sophisticated, highly-systemic world, beloved by its community in its fledgling stages,” said Jay Chi, founding partner at Makers Fund, in a statement. “At Makers, we make it our mission to support creative, ambitious endeavors from proven founders, and we are proud to be assisting Tima and his team in bringing about further renditions of their vision that continue to delight and inspire their devoted community.”

Andreessen Horowitz partner Andrew Chen said in a statement, “The team is highly technical, determined, and passionate about building captivating experiences that dedicated communities can grow around — which aligns perfectly with our belief that games and social platforms will increasingly intersect. Over the last two years in particular, we’ve seen VR adoption increasing while the metaverse grows and are excited to partner with Alta as they continue serving and growing this community.”

Alta is currently hiring.