#VLeadersTech: Meet Javier Bello Ruiz of Imverse
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This week, Javier Bello Ruiz of Imverse is working hard meeting key entrepreneurs and investors in Silicon Valley with Venture Leaders Technology. Here we find out a little about his motivation for applying to the program.
Why did you choose Silicon Valley as your business development destination?To expand our current network: our target market, potential clients and partners, as well as key connections for our business development are in California. Thanks to our deep tech based solutions, in 5 years we would like to become the leaders of Photorealistic Mixed Reality content creation. Our platform will be used for all the production phases of MR movies and will be used for storyboarding, previsualization and pre-production of Hollywood movies.
What do you want to achieve from the trip?
Learn from the other entrepreneurs’ experiences, drive awareness of Imverse´s technology and lead generation via key US events, working on a clear business development plan. Evaluate the establishment of a satellite/subsidiary in the US: we believe the growth, internationalization and success of our company is linked to incorporating a satellite in California. We are currently looking for CHF 1.5 million for our Seed Round but we would like to establish contacts with relevant VCs for VR/MR in the US for our Series A for the end of 2018, beginning of 2019 as well.
Why is Venture Leaders TECH beneficial for your company?
In our current business development roadmap, we are considering several trips to the US as an essential part. Some are for marketing and PR purposes, such as key events and festivals (Sundance, SIGGRAPH), others are to expand our client and investor networks (CTI Market Entry, IMD EMBA Startup Program). Our goal is that these trips lead us to the establishment of a subsidiary in California at the end of the year. If we want to be fast and successful we should be in close contact with them. This is part of the strategy of becoming international, starting with the US market, as competitors and potential partners are located there.
What is pushing you towards international expansion?
We are currently running a private beta software program with VR studios in Los Angeles and San Francisco, they are among the most well-known cinematic content producers for VR. We have also collaborated with Mark Boulos, American filmmaker and Assistant Professor of Film at VCU Arts in Virginia. We created a mixed reality interactive documentary directed by him using our software to showcase the unprecedented features possible thanks to our graphics engine, and to demonstrate that we could create a short mixed reality film on an indie budget. Our film Elastic Time has been officially selected to display at the Sundance Film Festival 2018 as seen here: www.imverse.ch/elastictime We establishing some partnerships in Los Angeles at the moment. As a hub for VR technologies useful for the film industry they will help us to introduce our technology to major studios, technological companies, press and investors. We are also participating in the DART 17 program (www.dart17.com). Through DART 17 we are also in contact with international mentors, companies and key people in the VR/MR industry.
What do you foresee as the largest hurdles towards expansion into Silicon Valley?
Time difference with the team in Switzerland, we will need to concentrate our meetings during specific time slots and profit from online tools to keep a good flow between the team members. Another hurdle could concern the duration and number of trips between the US and Switzerland during the transition period. We are already hiring a business developer in California to address this and she has experience with moving companies to the US so we will also get help for all the legal, admin and visa requirements. Managing ways to get truly VR/MR smart money that is compatible with investments coming from the classic media & entertainment industry. Another hurdle would be regarding future hiring, making sure we enroll the right people that will fit with our current team.
What makes you most nervous or excited about the trip?
I’m mostly nervous about game changing results that might happen there and the acceleration that would be necessary to do so with our current resources. Choosing the right leads and decisions to move forward and scale. I’m very excited to have this great opportunity to be part of the team of recognized program such as Venture Leaders, being able to get relevant connections in the US for investment and address our business development from many angles. We are convinced of our ground-breaking technology possibilities and we want to share it with them.
Read about the Startup Champions kick-off event and don't forget to follow the trip on Twitter using the hashtag #VLeadersTech
Venture Leaders Technology is sponsored by Rothschild Bank, Kellerhals Carrard, digitalswitzerland, Canton de Vaud, EPF Lausanne, ETH Zürich, Gebert Rüf Stiftung, Swissnex San Francisco, Swisscom Ventures and DPD. The Startup Champions event was organized in conjunction with Neo Network. Venturelab is sponsored by BKW, Swiss Prime Site and Swisscom.
