Orange Wants To Fast-Track 5G With Investment In Venture Fund

Orange is investing in the “Venture Reality Fund II” in an effort to promote immersive technologies and speed the development of new 5G services, the telecommunications company announced Wednesday (March 17.

The investment, run through the holding company Orange Digital Investment, will allow Orange to fund technologies in the XR (extended reality) sector, such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality and mixed reality.

“Future personal and professional uses (including entertainment, industry 4.0, medical research, and training, for example) will benefit greatly from these new technologies, which rely in part on the availability of ultra-high speed networks (including 5G) and Edge Computing,” the company said in a news release.

Orange says this move follows several years of exploration of the immersive technology world. The company is the first European telecommunications firm to invest in the fund, which is hoping to reach at least $50 million.

“We are delighted and honored to have Orange as a strategic investor in Fund II that will invest in innovative startups to showcase the combined power of 5G networks with XR and AI,” Venture Reality Fund (VRF) Co-Founder Marco DeMiroz said. “As Orange’s 5G networks deliver unmatched customer experience they also offer brand new services and entertainment for both consumers and enterprises leveraging AI and XR.”

5G may also have a significant impact on the payments industry. In an interview with PYMNTS last month, Western Union Vice President and Head of Product Scott Johnson said that AI and 5G speeds, coupled with real-time payments, could bring about a new era of financial experiences.

“It’s a really interesting time in the payments industry,” Johnson said. “We’ve seen a ton of investment in digital payments infrastructure, the emergence of … real-time payment systems that are actually real-time. That’s enabling a lot of innovation and … will continue to enable innovation. The payments are clearing faster, they’re settling faster, they’re happening around the clock 24/7 and in some countries — and that’s driving a lot of business process change.”