It has been revealed that the extraordinary Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov invested in a newly launched virtual reality startup in 2018. This was kept secret, and the exact amount of his investment remains unknown, but according to Brian Keene, a representative of Sensorium, Prokhorov is its founder.
To date, the company hasn't completed any of its products. The first is slated to be an alternative virtual universe project. Its presentation is scheduled for early 2021. The project, dubbed Sensorium Galaxy, will allow users anywhere in the world to attend virtual concerts, party in nightclubs, and even go on dates. Sensorium Galaxy will be accessible via the Oculus Rift S or HTC Vive headset.
According to Mikhail Prokhorov himself, the virtual reality and artificial intelligence market is expected to experience a major boom within 10 years. Since its launch, Sensorium has raised over $100 million in investment. The names of the investors are being kept confidential. However, it is highly likely that it will be a strong competitor to Facebook, which acquired a similar startup, Oculus, four years ago and is continuing to develop its own virtual world, Horizon, also a multiplayer project.
Sensorium itself is registered in the Cayman Islands, with offices in many cities worldwide, including Moscow, Zurich, and Montreal. In Russia, it was only registered in 2019 as Sensorium Corporation Moscow LLC. It is known that Andrey Zinin, who serves as its Chief Operating Officer, owns approximately 0.1% of the company, while 99.9% is owned by a legal entity registered in the Cayman Islands.
Meanwhile, the well-known Vladimir Kedrinsky is serving as the CEO. On behalf of his Fun Generation, he promised to open a Sensorium Hall concert hall in Moscow City, where events will be accessible from anywhere using virtual reality technology.
Fun Generation is owned by the Cypriot holding company Integro Holdings Limited, which is controlled by Onexim Holdings Limited. It is also regularly linked to Mikhail Prokhorov.
