South African startup SDK Lab, which builds augmented and virtual reality products and also operates in Botswana and Cameroon, has been selected for the River programme hosted by Rothenberg Ventures, earning US$100,000 in the process.
Venture capital group Rothenberg Ventures launhced River late last year, offering a three-month virtual reality camp for startups including mentoring, San Francisco office space and investment in return for a small amount of equity.
SDK Lab is amongst the startups to be accepted on the first programme, which will culminate with demo day in September. Founded by Shaun Wilson and Christian Yves Fongang, the company works in augmented reality, eyeball and facial tracking, facial recognition and virtual reality.
Of virtual reality as a field to work on, SDK Lab said: “This is a technology which will change the way that we experience the world beyond games and will have the greatest impact in the leisure, travel, entertainment and education sectors.”
The other startups selected for the programme are DeepStream VR (US), DISCOVR (Canada), Emblematic Group (US), Fove (Japan), Innerspace (France and South Korea), Psious (Spain), Reload Studios (US), Solirax (Czech Republic), Triggar (Australia), Thotwise (Argentina), and Vantage.TV (US).
