Japan-based VR startup Hikky raises a $57M Series A led by NTT Docomo to expand its web-based virtual events platform Vket Cloud
Ben Lang / Road to VR :
Context & Ripple Effects
Hikky's $57M Series A lands in a VR funding lineage that has already cycled through the hype curve: Jaunt's $50M+ Series C in 2015 and NextVR's $80M Series B in 2016 backed headset-era capture and streaming plays that never found durable consumer demand. The difference this time is the product shape — Vket Cloud runs in the browser, so events are reachable without a headset.
The raise also slots into the 2021 virtual-events financing wave: Bevy raised $40M at a $325M valuation in March for enterprise virtual and hybrid events, validating the category from the corporate side. NTT Docomo leading the round puts a Japanese carrier behind Hikky rather than a generic VR fund, echoing how VREAL's streaming play drew a strategic lead back in 2018.
First-order effects
- Hikky gets capital to scale Vket Cloud's web-based event platform, while NTT Docomo converts a minority check into a position in Japan's virtual-events infrastructure stack.
Second-order effects
- Browser-based access puts Vket Cloud in competition with enterprise virtual-event platforms like Bevy on reach rather than immersion — no hardware purchase stands between an attendee and an event.
Third-order effects
- If carrier-led backing keeps flowing to no-headset virtual venues, VR investment consolidates around accessible platforms over peripheral-dependent ones — the pattern that separated survivors from the NextVR/Jaunt generation.
The trend: Virtual-events funding is rotating from headset-native capture startups toward browser-accessible platforms, increasingly anchored by telecom strategics rather than VR-specific funds.