On Thursday, October 15th, 2015 – VRTO, Toronto’s Virtual Reality Meetup group hosted a series of talks at 545 King St. West, in the Exchange Room, centered on the emerging business of virtual and augmented reality.

“Now that the V/AR snowball is rolling down the hill, it is time to explore practical means to fund development, grow and stay in business, connect with clients and audiences and develop a platform for efficient workflow and reliable turnaround.

“Get your pad and paper and business cards ready – we are going to explore business models, funding opportunities and strategies for financing, asking the tough questions, with a series of top-notch speakers from across the spectrum of the immersive digital space.”

In a series of 20 minute presentations + brief Q&As, speaker included:

7:15PM Murray McKercher‎, Board Advisor, National Crowdfunding Association of Canada

Murray McKercher spoke on the VR market in China. After visiting Beijing a year ago, Murray will recount his exploits and continued connections to China, crowdfunding, ANTVR and Baofeng magic glasses. He is also an associate member of The Micro Capital.

he also brought up colleague Dave Baker who showed their efforts in capturing downhill skiing with immersive capture cameras.

Learn more at:
http://ncfacanada.org and http://www.themicrocapital.com

7:45: Quantum Capture

Craig Alguire (Technical Director) Morgan Young (President) of Quantum Capture were joined by their partner Blair Renaud – creator of Technolust to briefly discuss their high resolution 3D scanning technology, the business behind it, and then speak to their experiences/challenges in regards to channeling money back into their ventures and where they see the business model headed.

Morgan Young – President and Co-Founder
Morgan J Young is a seasoned AAA games developer and Virtual Reality entrepreneur. He is a a creative, passionate and self-driven 3D artist, dedicated to producing the highest caliber of digital content, and pushing the medium of Virtual Reality and 3D Scanning forward. After graduating with honors from Seneca College’s School of Communication Arts in 2008, Morgan was immediately hired at Ubisoft Toronto as a 3D Modeler. As a founding member of the studio’s core art team, Morgan shipped several block buster titles such as Splinter Cell Blacklist, Assassin’s Creed Unity, as well as aiding in pre-production for several other unannounced titles. CRAIG ALGUIRE – Tech Director and Co-Founder

Craig Alguire is a technical artist and 3D developer with experience in both the indie and AAA sectors. Emerging technology and R&D are his primary passions. He was the Technical Director at 3Di Solutions for 4 years before joining the VFX team at Ubisoft Toronto. 3Di were pioneers in interactivity utilizing massive touchscreens and gesture technology for games, TV and installations. At Ubisoft, Craig has shipped Splinter Cell Blacklist, Far Cry 4 and an unannounced title. Since 2008 he has also been a professor at Centennial College teaching the next generation of game developers.

Blair Renaud – VR Director and Co-Founder
Blair has over 10 years of game development experience, having worked on titles spanning all genres and platforms. From the Grand Theft Auto series to N+, from MAC and PC titles to mobile devices and consoles. Developing for VR is the next logical step.

Using the latest development kits from Oculus, Samsung, Sony and more, he has created a number of high quality VR experiences and games. His flagship product is called Technolust, a 1980′s cyberpunk inspired adventure experience built from the ground up exclusively for VR. Learn more at: http://www.quantumcapture.com

8:15 Awe Company

Srinivas Krishna gave a presentation on the company’s work project at Fort York.

Founded in 2012, AWE Company has rapidly grown to become a leading developer of advanced mobile augmented and virtual reality software. AWE’s patent-pending innovations were highlighted at the 2015 Google I/O and are being used to deliver an indoor-outdoor mobile VR tour of the nine acre Fort York National Historic Site in downtown Toronto, currently in previews.

Learn more at: www.facebook.com/awecompany

8:45 Mobile Capital Network

Alexei Gavriline is the president of Mobile Capital Network and the strategy and financial practice lead. He will be talking about Canadian and Ontario government financial incentives for interactive digital media companies, how to structure your venture and how to get that money to back your ideas.

Learn more at http://mobilecapital.net

9:15 Shok Kreative / ARIA Scan

Isaac Rayment, is head of creative development at Shok Kreative, and co-founded ARIA Scan, an augmented reality technology company. He will discuss how they are pitching, creating and selling unique AR concepts for major corporate clients including Ubisoft, Heineken, Roger’s Shomi, Nike TIFF and others.

Learn more at: http://shokkreative.com

Special Presentation Demos:

We will have 3 Oculus Rift stations on hand demoing some of our favorite experiences from 2015 including FIVARS People’s Choice winner for Interactive Experience: Apollo 11, and Kaleidoscope favorite Sightline: The Chair.

We will also have a Samsung Gear VR station showing some additional highlights from FIVARS, including the People’s Choice award winner for Immersive Video: Sonar.

Thanks to all for a sold out night with tons of insight into new business models.