On August 31, 2022, oVice Inc., developer and provider of the virtual space “oVice”, announced that it has raised a total of 4.5 billion yen ($32M) in a Series B round of funding.

Founded in 2020 by South Korean-born serial entrepreneur Jung Saehyung, oVice develops and provides "oVice," a virtual space where people can move and speak freely, with the mission of "eliminating physical barriers from people's lives.” The company was selected as one of the "100 Notable Ventures" by Weekly Toyo Keizai in 2021.

Since its launch in August 2020, the service has been used in a variety of settings, including virtual offices for telework, online events, and campus visits, and the number of spaces issued had surpassed 30,000 as of August 2022.

In this Series B round, oVice raised a total of 4.5 billion yen through equity financing from new investors such as SBI Investment and multiple investors including existing shareholders, as well as debt fundign from multiple financial institutions. In addition, the company signed a business partnership agreement with Kokuyo Corporation, a space design and consultation company focused on offices.

Through this funding and business alliance, oVice will accelerate the development of an environment for seamless communication and improved productivity in "hybrid work," where telework and office work are mixed, and will also recruit talents for its global expansion. In addition, the company will strengthen its executive team by welcoming Gen Tamura, who previously served as general manager and representative director of Asana Japan K.K., as COO in order to strengthen its products and the further global expansion, particularly in the United States.

oVice's company profile is here:
https://protocol.ooo/en/companies/ovice