ARScandinavia AB launches debut AR investment fund

A new fund based in Sweden is looking to cash in on the augmented reality (AR) revolution. ARScandinavia AB has recently raised a €30 million fund to make early-stage investments in AR companies. The firm is looking for 20-25 companies to invest in - primarily based in Europe - that are developing innovative use cases for AR technologies.

"With the fund, our mandate will allow us to invest globally, but we think there is strong value in Europe where valuations are lower than in the US and Asia," explains Eric Schunnesson, a Partner at ARScandinavia AB in an interview with Opalesque New Managers.

The investment team at ARScandinavia AB got its start in European investment banking and wants to bring that expertise to analyzing and investing in AR upstarts.

According to Schunnesson, AR technology has the potential to be used in nearly every industry, and companies that develop quality AR user experiences are likely to come out ahead. Industry forecasts put the AR market at as much as $100 billion in revenue by 2020. So far, 1018 companies list themselves as AR focused on the AngelList startup platform. Many of the big players like Facebook or Google mine these startups as a sort of outsourced R&D to find teams that have unique technologies and skills.

For its first fund, ARScandinavia AB is looking for companies that would make good acquisition targets or that are likely to go public within five years from the date of the firm's initial investment. The size of the firm's investment will be dictated by the overall investment opportunity. Schunnesson adds that while the investment team is industry agnostic, they will be mindful of making too many investments in a given sector and are instead aiming for a pretty diverse group of portfolio companies.

"Our goal is to build a track record with this fund," Schunnesson says. "We alread......................

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This article was published in Opalesque's New Managers a top-down monthly analysis, news and research publication on the global emerging manager space.