News

Finnish start-up Surrogate.tv raises $2 million

“We want to rethink this process by bringing in unique benefits that the real world has to offer”

Date Type Companies involved Size
July 15th, 2019 investment Surrogate.tv $2m
Finnish start-up Surrogate.tv raises $2 million

Finnish reality-focused developer Surrogate.tv has secured $2 million in seed investment to create its portfolio of “Surrogate Reality” experiences for mobile and other platforms.

The investment was led by Initial Capital (an early Supercell investor), PROfounders Capital and Brighteye Ventures. Public funding agency Business Finland also contributed.

Surrogate Reality games are described as games that let you control objects in the real world, instead of playing with virtual physics and graphics.

The first title will be Race Real Cars 1:43, which enables players to drive 1:43 scale RC car via the internet in real-time. The title is due to launch in August.

On top of creating reality games, the funding will be used to enhance Surrogate’s low-latency video streaming technology, SurroRTG.

Surrogate confirmed to PocketGamer.biz that the firm will be offering apps for mobile devices for playing the 'reality games'.

“Rethink the process”

“To date, video games continue to be developed with the same limitations that existed at the time of Pong - creating fake physics and fake graphics in an attempt to mimic real-life,” said Surrogate CEO and co-founder Shane Allen.

“At Surrogate, we want to rethink this process by bringing in unique benefits that the real world has to offer and using them as major elements in the video gaming experience.

“Backed by some of the most well-recognised venture funds in the world, we’re building a new category of online entertainment - completely blurring the lines between what real and virtual worlds should and can be. We look forward to releasing the first stages of Surrogate gaming in the coming months.”

 


Deputy Editor

Matthew Forde is the deputy editor at PocketGamer.biz and also a member of the Pocket Gamer Podcast. You can find him on Twitter @MattForde64 talking about stats, data and everything pop culture related - particularly superheroes.