The Disney Accelerator program has another potential big winner emerging from its system. Tyffon, a leading immersive entertainment company that develops and operates high-end “free roam” VR location-based experiences, has announced a $7.8 million round of new financing led by Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), with several others participating, to accelerate global expansion of its hyper-realistic “Tyffonium” venues. TBS and other new investors join existing investors that include SEGA SAMMY Holdings, The Walt Disney Company, Mizuho Capital, Tokyu Recreation, and Canal Ventures, among others.
Tyffon is the leading immersive entertainment and “free roam” VR company in Japan and operates two location-based “Tyffonium” immersive venues in Tokyo (in Odaiba and Shibuya). Tyffon will open its third Tyffonium in Tokyo later this year. Tyffon also will open its first U.S.-based Tyffonium later this year in Los Angeles, California.
If you’ve been to The VOID, another Disney Accelerator graduate, you know how well the technology fits in with Disney’s rich history of storytelling. It sounds like the Los Angeles location may not be at Disneyland, due to contract issues with The VOID, hopefully it will have some Disney stories and characters added to their entertainment options.
“We enthusiastically welcome our new strategic investments and look forward to expanding our innovative and impactful Tyffonium immersive experiences beyond Japan, to audiences in the U.S., and later in other territories around the world,” said Tyffon CEO Ken Fukazawa. “We are gratified at the tremendous pedigree of our investors who have placed their faith and trust in us. They represent some of the leading media, entertainment and technology innovators and creative forces in the world. We at Tyffon are committed to honoring that creative legacy and creating and sharing the highest quality and most innovative immersive experiences in the world.”
Tyffon will use its new funds to expand its global team and accelerate overall expansion of its Tyffoniums and related experiences both in the U.S. and Japan, as well as additional territories around the world. Tyffon already showcases its highly-reviewed horror and fantasy “free roam” immersive experiences at its locations, and Tyffon plans to work even more closely with U.S. media and entertainment companies to bring their content, characters, franchises and intellectual property to life with the highest quality and impact, and engage more deeply with audiences around the world.
To date, Tyffon has developed three individual immersive experiences for its Tyffoniums, all of which combine VR technology and multi-sensory effects in a physical environment that allows guests to roam freely and experience hyper-real immersive environments together, socially. The first is “Corridor” – a mixed reality horror experience, the second is “Fluctus” – a mixed reality fantasy ride, and the third is “Tarot VR: Voyage of Reverie” – 22 individual mixed reality experiences based on 22 tarot cards. Tyffon is currently developing additional hyper-realistic immersive content and character-driven experiences in support of its expansion and to delight audiences, including experiences based on major media and entertainment content and character-driven franchises. The company focuses on immersive experiences with universal themes that appeal to global audiences and are typically language agnostic.
Unlike some other players in the mixed reality-driven LBE space, Tyffon plans to focus on the quality of its content and experiences first and efficiently build, operate and scale its Tyffoniums to delight audiences across scores of high traffic areas in cities around the globe. The company also uniquely develops and distributes mobile immersive experiences that will complement and integrate with Tyffonium in-venue experiences to maximize impact and overall engagement. Tyffon’s “Zombie Booth 2” app and Disney app have been downloaded over 50 million times worldwide.