Refract raises $8.5M SGD funding, announces new game development division

techcrunch.com:

Refract, a Singapore-based extended reality (XR) startup, announced today it has closed approximately $8.5million SGD (approximately $6million) Series A led by Sea Limited along with international family offices and individual investors.

The latest funding will be used to intensify R&D for AXIS, a wearable and game-oriented full-body motion capture solution. The startup also plans to expand its team in preparation for the commercialization of AXIS later this year to cater to the rapidly growing market of gamers, tech adopters, content creators and fitness enthusiasts. The Series A round brings Refract’s total raised to $9 million.

In 2018, three co-founders of Refract, Chong Geng Ng, Michael Chng and Eugene Koh, worked on a gaming-related project and encountered a problem statement: How would one bridge the gap between gaming and physical activity? CEO of Refract Chng told TechCrunch that the solution they found out was to allow players to use their bodies as game controllers. After poring over documents and articles of cutting-edge technological innovations in gaming and applications in other industries, the three co-founders identified a gap in the market and set up Refract.

“Refract’s goal has always been to become a key player in AR and XR gaming, and this funding enables us to accelerate this process,” said Chng. 

AXIS

The funding announcement comes on the heels of the successful completion of crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for AXIS and its XR game publishing division set up via Deep Dive Studio acquisition. 

Unlike full-body motion tracking systems like Perception Neuron, Rokoko and Xsens, AXIS is for real-time gaming and entertainment use. AXIS also allows users the flexibility of using between 7-10 nodes for