VR Startup Littlstar Partners With CJ Powercast for South Korea Expansion (EXCLUSIVE)
New York-based virtual reality startup Littlstar is expanding to South Korea: Littlstar has forged a strategic partnership with CJ Powercast to launch a localized version of its virtual reality (VR) content apps and platform in South Korea.
”Launching Littlstar Korea with CJP is a huge opportunity for us, the VR industry in Korea, as well as the industry globally,” said Littlstar CEO Tony Mugavero “South Korea is defining Asian and Global trends in traditional media, music, fashion, and pop culture, and VR is no different.”
“CJP expects that this partnership will be a strong support for providing innovative VR experiences to Korean content markets,” added CJ Powercast CEO Seonghak Lee.
Littlstar Korea and CJ Powercast plan to offer VR content from Korean pop stars, TV networks, movie studios and e-sports events. CJ Powercast will run content, publishing, sales, and business development of the effort, while Littlstar is contributing its technology and distribution infrastructure.
The announcement of the partnership comes half a year after Disney-backed Littlstar forged a similar partnership with Sony Music to launch Littlstar Japan.
In the U.S., Littlstar started out as one of a number of platforms aggregating VR videos and experiences. But while others have unsuccessfully tried to establish themselves as a kind of YouTube for VR, Littlstar has instead forged partnerships with TV networks, in turn becoming more of a kind of Hulu for immersive video.
Some of Littlstar’s content partners include Viacom, NBC, ABC, Fox, Showtime, USA and PBS, as well as Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures and all of the three major record labels. In addition, the company’s technology powers Discovery VR, CNN VR as well as VR efforts at Hearst, Garnett and elsewhere.
Littlstar has raised around $6.4 million in funding, with investors including Disney, A+E Networks, Michael Eisner’s Tornante Company and others.
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