Surrogate bills itself as a reality-focused game development and video streaming startup that is building a new category of online entertainment. The Finland-based company announced this week that it has raised $2 million in seed funding on its quest to reimagine gaming.
Investors in this round include Initial Capital, PROfounders Capital, Brighteye Ventures and Business Finland. Surrogate plans to use the funding to scale its “Surrogate Reality” game portfolio while developing the company’s low-latency video streaming technology —SurroRTG.
“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. 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.”
“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. 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,” said Shane Allen, CEO and Cofounder of Surrogate, in a company blog post.
Surrogate’s proprietary software allows people to interact with reality as if they were physically there, even if they are thousands of miles away. Unlike traditional games, where realism is measured in Teraflops, Surrogate’s approach measures latency as the key metric for immersiveness.
“The lines between watching and interacting with entertainment content are blurring and Surrogate is pushing the boundaries even further by building the tools that enable anyone to watch and play real-life games remotely. We’re excited to be adding Surrogate to our portfolio, and we look forward to being a part of the team as they bring their vision to life,” added Matteo Vallone, Principal at Initial Capital, in a statement.
Surrogate’s first mini-game releases will take place in August 2019.