Dentsu Inc. (Tokyo: 4324; ISIN: JP3551520004; President & CEO: Tadashi Ishii; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 74,609.81 million yen) announced today that Dentsu Ventures Global Fund I (hereinafter 'Dentsu Ventures'), the Company's corporate venture capital fund, has made an investment in Two Bit Circus, Inc. (Head Office: Los Angeles; CEO: Brent Bushnell; hereinafter 'Two Bit Circus'), a provider of interactive entertainment utilizing VR, IoT and other cutting-edge technologies in the United States.

Dentsu Ventures was established in April 2015 with the objectives of investing in ambitious start-up companies that will create an as yet unseen future and furthering open innovation across the Dentsu Group through collaboration with investees. In addition to funding, Dentsu Ventures will support businesses and entrepreneurs by providing problem-solving solutions and resources that are unique to the Group.

Up to now, Two Bit Circus has developed props for interactive events leveraging the value of innovative technologies for entertainment purposes. Going forward, the company also has plans to establish a theme park utilizing these technologies. This first theme park, which will be established in Los Angeles in the second half of 2017, plans to offer interactive entertainment featuring the latest virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) technologies, molecular gastronomy and robots. There are also plans to use this theme park to showcase hardware and content developed by Two Bit Circus and its brand partners.

This alliance with Two Bit Circus, which has strengths in the development of showcase equipment enabling the experience of interactive cutting-edge technologies, will help Dentsu Ventures to develop entertainment utilizing innovative technologies and contents of Dentsu Group clients and partners, as well as enable business development in Japan and throughout Asia.

Profiles of Two Bit Circus and Dentsu Ventures and an image of the service provided by Two Bit Circus are provided below..

Image of the service provided by Two Bit Circus, Inc.

Profile of Two Bit Circus
Company Name: Two Bit Circus, Inc.
Location: Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Representative: Brent Bushnell (CEO)
Line of Business: Interactive content business development utilizing cutting-edge technologies
URL: http://twobitcircus.com/

Profile of Dentsu Ventures
Name: Dentsu Ventures Global Fund I
Total Fund Capital: Five billion yen
Date of Establishment: April 2015
Period of Operation: Seven-year period from April 2015 until March 2022
Investment Regions: Global investments with a focus on the U.S., Europe and Asia
Investment Stages: Balanced, wide-ranging investments with the focus on seed and early stage investments, but also including mid-stage and later-stage investments
Investment Areas: (1) Areas that can change the marketing and communication business in a broad sense (2) New areas other than the above that have a high potential for innovation
URL: http://dentsu-v.com/

#####

Dentsu Inc. published this content on 18 January 2017 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 18 January 2017 02:06:00 UTC.

Original documenthttp://www.dentsu.com/news/release/2017/0118-009136.html

Public permalinkhttp://www.publicnow.com/view/81BC83444A57B3F6B9A9E1E355227C237E961D10