Vive X

Vive X
Information
Industry	Startup accelerator and early-stage investment in VR, AR, AI and 5G
Founded	2016
Notable Personnel	Marc Metis (global head of Vive X in 2017; vice president, HTC Vive, in 2020)
Parent	HTC
Website	https://vivex.vive.com

Vive X (styled VIVE X on HTC's current pages) is HTC's program for investing in and supporting startups in virtual reality, augmented reality and related technologies. HTC announced it on 26 April 2016 at a press conference in China, weeks after the consumer HTC Vive went on sale, as a startup accelerator backed by a 100 million US dollar fund, with programs in Beijing, Taipei and San Francisco. Startups received cash in exchange for a small amount of equity, along with mentoring, office space and access to HTC's VR technology.

Between 2016 and 2018 the program selected four batches of companies, and by 2018 it operated in six cities after adding Shenzhen, Tel Aviv and London to its first three. In June 2020 HTC said Vive X had made more than 100 deals across six locations and had moved from batches to investing throughout the year, with a focus on enterprise XR. The program's FAQ, read in October 2026, says it no longer runs a traditional accelerator and now works as an early-stage investor.

Reviewed 18 October 2026. Checked every date, count, location, name, quote and status claim against the cited HTC releases, Vive X FAQ and portfolio pages, and Road to VR, UploadVR, TechCrunch, Fortune and VentureBeat articles. About review dates.

History

Announcement (2016)

HTC presented Vive X at a press conference in China on 26 April 2016. TechCrunch reported that HTC would devote 100 million US dollars to the program, and that startups would get cash in exchange for equity plus access to investors and mentors with VR experience. Fortune wrote that Beijing would open first, in May 2016, with select startups from Asia invited to apply, and that HTC had not yet said when the San Francisco and Taipei programs would begin. Participating companies had to work on VR content, applications, tools or accessories that HTC judged suitable for the Vive.

HTC's announcement, republished by Hypergrid Business, described a fund led by HTC whose aim was to turn startups into content producers or content enablers for the Vive platform. It listed funding, coaching, go-to-market support, office space in the host city during an initial growth period, and demo days with investors. Training would take place at HTC's offices with its first-party development studios and Vive engineering and management teams. HTC chairwoman and CEO Cher Wang said: "We are very excited about gathering the brightest and the most creative minds to join Vive X."

Accelerator batches (2016-2018)

HTC announced the first batch of 33 startups at ChinaJoy in July 2016. Road to VR reported about 1,200 applications from around the world, roughly half of them from China, and a four-month program split between San Francisco, Beijing, Taipei and a hardware-focused location in Shenzhen. Some of the companies were still in stealth and were not named. Alvin W. Graylin, China regional president of HTC VR, said HTC was "committed to supporting a vibrant VR ecosystem." Later HTC releases date the launch of the program to July 2016.

On 27 March 2017 Vive X announced a second batch of 33 companies and said it had invested in more than sixty companies in under a year. The same release said the program was opening in Israel. Marc Metis, then global head of Vive X, was quoted for HTC. Road to VR counted about 700 applications for this batch and reported HTC's statement that its investments carried no "onerous deal terms that would exclude other platforms." In June 2017, more than 33 Vive X startups from eight countries presented at demo days in Taipei, San Francisco and Shanghai, and HTC said it was opening a Tel Aviv incubator focused on AR and AI. The same release said HTC Vive was a key partner in the Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance (VRVCA), an investor group that supports mid- to late-stage companies, while Vive X focused on early-stage startups.

The third batch of 26 companies followed on 29 November 2017, when HTC said it had invested in more than 80 companies since July 2016 and named Tel Aviv as the program's fifth location. In March 2018, during that batch's demo days, HTC announced London as a sixth location and its first in Europe. UploadVR reported that the latest China demo day, held with the VRVCA, had shown 17 teams to 50 VR and AR investors, and that applications for the fourth batch would open on 31 March.

HTC announced the fourth batch on 15 November 2018: 18 startups across San Francisco, London, Taipei, Shenzhen, Beijing and Tel Aviv, with an emphasis on enterprise uses such as training simulators, location-based entertainment and data visualization. The release said Vive X had funded about one hundred companies since July 2016. Seventeen of them presented at 2019 demo days in Beijing (8 May), Tokyo (16 May), London (23 May) and San Francisco (4 June). HTC's release for those events said Vive X also invested in 5G, AI and blockchain.

Shift to rolling investment (2020)

On 25 June 2020 HTC said the value of its Vive X investments had nearly doubled over four years. It also said the program had made more than 100 deals in six locations, and that 17 portfolio companies had raised over 60 million US dollars of outside funding in the previous year. HTC added that Vive X had moved from batch-based investing to more frequent investments through the year. It announced seven new investments: 3Data Analytics, BodySwaps, Imaged Reality, Maze Theory, ORamaVR, Talespin and VantagePoint. The same post said portfolio company Mindesk had been acquired by Vection Technologies. Metis, by then vice president of HTC Vive, said the program would "continue to invest aggressively, especially in the area of enterprise XR". VentureBeat described the group as largely enterprise-focused.

Batches

Company counts and names are as HTC and Road to VR published them; some first-batch companies were in stealth and not named.

Batch	Announced	Companies	Locations	Examples named at announcement
1	July 2016	33	San Francisco, Beijing, Taipei, Shenzhen	Directive Games, Immersv, Kaleidoscope VR, ObEN, RockVR, Wondergate
2	27 March 2017	33	San Francisco, Beijing, Shenzhen, Taipei	cognitiveVR, Mindesk, Subdream, Aurora AR, bHaptics, TEGway
3	29 November 2017	26	San Francisco, Beijing, Shenzhen, Taipei, Tel Aviv	Apelab, Nanome, Neurable, Antilatency, Looxid Labs, COVER
4	15 November 2018	18 (17 at the 2019 demo days)	San Francisco, London, Taipei, Shenzhen, Beijing, Tel Aviv	Visby, MyndVR, LIV, Immersive Factory, Kagenova, Sixdof.space

Portfolio

Subdream, listed in the second batch's San Francisco group, released its first game, Mega Overload, on 18 April 2017; UploadVR described the studio as aided by the Vive X accelerator. Haptics maker bHaptics was in the same batch, in the Shenzhen group. The third batch included Apelab and the brain-computer interface company Neurable in San Francisco. The Vive X portfolio page lists its companies under Batches 1 to 4.

Current status

As of October 2026 the Vive X website remains online with its FAQ and its batch-by-batch portfolio page. The FAQ describes Vive X as "HTC's global program to invest in startups at the intersection of VR, AR, AI and 5G," with a team based in San Francisco, London, Beijing, Taipei and Tel Aviv. It says the program no longer runs a traditional accelerator and considers itself "an early-stage value add investor". It mainly looks at startups from seed through Series A and will consider post-Series A XR companies. Teams typically receive 100,000 to 200,000 US dollars, or the equivalent, usually as a convertible note. There is no direct application process; the team approaches companies itself and relies on referrals and warm introductions. The FAQ also says Vive X does not usually invest in service businesses such as agencies or content studios, and it directs game and VR experience makers to the Viveport team.

See also

• HTC
• HTC Vive
• Vive Studios
• Viveport