Qualcomm Opens $100M Metaverse Fund

Wireless technology firm Qualcomm has created a $100 million fund to invest in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) tech to help jumpstart the metaverse.

As the San Diego Union Tribune reported Monday (March 21), the Snapdragon Metaverse Fund complements other funds that Qualcomm has created in recent years to support technology in which it has a stake. Among these is its $100 million Qualcomm Ventures Artificial Intelligence Fund, which it launched in 2018.

“Through the Snapdragon Metaverse Fund, we look forward to empowering developers and companies of all sizes as they push boundaries of what’s possible as we enter into this new generation of spatial computing,” Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said in a statement.

The San Diego company says it will deploy the fund by investing in VR and AR firms through Qualcomm Ventures, its corporate venture capital operation.

Read more: Qualcomm CEO: More to Metaverse Than Social Media

Earlier this year, Amon gave an interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer in which he said the metaverse was about more than just social media.

“The metaverse is going to develop as a number of different opportunities,” he said. “You’re always going to have the big social network, consumer play. You’re going to have a big one for gaming, but industrial is big.”

Amon said that underscores the value of his company’s work with Microsoft, which uses Qualcomm chips in its mixed reality smart glasses.

At CES earlier this year, Qualcomm announced it as building on this collaboration, with the two companies using their software to develop next-generation, lightweight AR glasses.

“We’ve been talking for years about the possibility of having wearable augmented reality devices that will gain scale,” Amon said at the time. “I’m very excited about this partnership. It’s a step in making that a reality and gaining more and more scale with augmented reality.”

Qualcomm says it will also launch a grant program for developers creating VR and AR content in the gaming, health and wellness, media, entertainment and education fields, along with content targeting businesses. Applications for the fund will open in June.