oVice, Inc., Providing Virtual Spaces Raises 100 Million Yen
“Raise Capital for your Business.”
oVice, Inc. (Location: Minato-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Sae Hyung Jung) building 2-D virtual spaces where people gather, move, and talk freely in a custom world online, has a total of 1 seed round funding from One Capital and MIRAISE.
Previously called Nimaru Technology Co., Ltd, the corporation changed its name to oVice [o-v-i-s] in December 12th.
◆ oVice Making Virtual Real
oVice works with the rules of reality, making it natural and easy for people to achieve contingent communication.
At oVice, you can virtually walk by moving your avatar and easily join in and out of conversations by bringing your avatar either closer or away from the other party.
What makes it feel close to being real is the voice level at distance.
If you want your voice to be heard clearly, all you have to do is get closer to the person you want to talk to. The closer you get, the louder your voice will be. You can even virtually face other people using a red arrow attached to your avatar. The person you are facing, will receive the best audio quality.
If someone is virtually far from a group of people, both parties’ voice won’t be heard.
This helps create water cooler conversations, the ability to choose the people you want to communicate with, and generate meaningful and authentic connection between people.
◆ Enhancing Remote Communication
In February 2020, CEO Sae Hyung Jung got stranded in Tunisia because of COVID-19 lockdown while going there for a short business trip.
He started working from home and faced communication issues between his teams. It was hard to reach members easily just like it normally happens in a physical workspace which made collaboration even harder. That’s when the idea of building oVice came about.
The main focus was to make it as much closer to reality as possible but very easy and open for usage. Providing both, an open space to move freely and a high quality audio that works despite low network speed, was impressive to most first-time users.
For the name, oVice is inspired from the words “office” and “virtual” and it is pronounced as “o-v-i-s”.
◆ Used by 800 Companies in 4 Months After its Release
Being introduced as a virtual office, oVice is being used by several dozens of thousands of employees. Free trials have been available since the start of the open beta test until today. Now, more than 800 companies are using oVice, including free trials. Some companies stated that “ using oVice as a remote office, and sharing conversations, projects, and fun moments with your colleagues makes it unique and valuable”. Since oVice was easy to customize and fun to use, other companies started using it for Happy Hours, networking events, university workshops, and even wedding after-parties.
You can have your space set as an office for the day, and a disco lounge for the night. Or even both at the same time.
◆ Comments from MIRAISE Partner & CEO Shinichi Iwata
The outbreak of Coronavirus has drastically changed a lot about the remote working culture and mindset of many early remote workers. This created a technological revolution in the industrial app economy with the rise of thousands of remote working tools to provide a better working environment for the new comers. However, many tools focused on efficiency, leaving behind the social aspect of the remote office, the side-conversations during gatherings, the freedom to join and leave groups or tables without having to log out, and the feeling of being in an actual office online just like offline.
oVice is an innovative remote solution that combines the benefits of an online office with a unique UI/UX and a wide range of features that makes it definitely worth trying.
The flow of transition to remote work is happening worldwide, and I am very satisfied and happy to be involved in the company’s development with a view to global expansion with Sae Hyung Jung and other members.
◆ Comments from One Capital & CEO Shinji Asada
I still remember the first time I used oVice. I was impressed by the intuitive, the smooth UI and high quality sound that I immediately decided to make it SaaS for everyday use.
oVice meets the needs of users and businesses who want to improve their remote working style.
We look forward to the future development of oVice so we can provide remote workers with the best lifelike online communication experience.
◆ Building a New Data-Driven Spatial Platform While Strengthening Recruitment
From now on, we will be more active in recruiting human resources as well as developing technologies that allow remote workers and real office workers to communicate at oVice as if they were in the same space even post-Corona. Also, in conjunction with external tools, we aim to become a new platform for collecting a wide range of data by measuring engagement, which is an indicator that employees enthusiastically engage in their work, and recording who stopped by and interacted with booths and other visitors during events.
■Company Overview
Name: oVice Corporation
CEO: Sae Hyung Jung
Founding Date: February 2020
Visit our Website: https://ovice.in
