Holographic capture startup 8i raises $27M Series B led by Time Warner, will launch 3D app Holo this year on Google Tango-compatible devices
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch :
Context & Ripple Effects
Time Warner leading 8i's round extends a pattern of the media conglomerate buying equity in emerging distribution surfaces rather than waiting to license into them: it signed a two-year $100M deal putting Turner and Warner Bros. originals on Snap, and has reportedly weighed a 10% stake in Hulu for $580M. An investment in a volumetric-capture startup is the same hedge placed one layer earlier, on the content-creation side.
The launch plan ties Holo to Google's hardware bets: Project Tango graduated from ATAP in early 2015, gained Intel RealSense depth cameras, and per Bloomberg reporting was being positioned for a major indoor-mapping and VR push. Whatever audience Holo finds depends on how far that Tango ecosystem actually spreads.
First-order effects
- 8i gets the capital to ship Holo this year, while Time Warner gains an inside position on volumetric video it could eventually feed into Turner and Warner Bros. programming.
- Holo's initial reach is capped by the Tango-compatible device base, which Google has been trying to expand through its indoor-mapping and VR initiative.
Second-order effects
- Google's own JUMP capture platform looms as both infrastructure and rival — the same media partners Time Warner might route through 8i could instead use Google's end-to-end 3D video pipeline.
- Capital keeps flowing into the broader consumer 3D-capture category regardless of any single winner: GV's $25M Series B in Hover for smartphone-based home modeling shows investors funding adjacent slices of the same thesis.
Third-order effects
- If capture startups keep raising against thin device installed bases, survival consolidates around whoever controls the hardware standard — here Google — making platform dependence the decisive risk for companies like 8i.
- Media conglomerates acting as venture investors across the stack — Snap, Hulu, now 8i — points toward content owners holding equity in their future distribution formats rather than renting access to them.
The trend: Media conglomerates are taking direct equity positions in immersive-content platforms as VR and AR capture moves from demonstration projects toward shippable consumer apps.