Travel and lifestyle site Zanadu will bring quality virtual reality travel content to its upmarket Chinese members.
Beijing-based Zanadu, which featured as a TLabs Showcase in 2012, has also confirmed a Series A+ round of more than $12 million, led by Chinese internet powerhouse Tencent.
As part of the raise, it will also work with Tencent Video and share its content on Tencent's own VR app.
It is also opening Zanadu Studio, an in-house VR and 2D production studio which will produce content for itns app and also for third-party travel partners. It intends to release between 30 and 40 videos this year and they will be available on its app and via other VR platforms such as Samsung’s MILK, Oculus and Youtube360.
The app is available as an iOS or Android download, and features a self-produced virtual reality video called The Dream.
Zanadu said that it will concentrate on "VR content production, content distribution, marketing and booking services to the travel industry" with its creative director and chief marketing officer Dirk Eschenbacher talking about Zanadu becoming the "number 1 VR travel content producer and distributor in the Chinese market and also on a global level."
Related reading from Tnooz:Virtual reality primed to become a tourism marketing reality (Jan2016)
VR and beacons tipped for mainstream adoption in 2016 (Oct 2015)