🔒Creating ‘immersive experiences’ for companies and influencers, Norwalk’s Infinite Reality set to go public

Even if you don’t pay much attention to companies developing or using technologies or virtual platforms for social media, e-commerce, gaming or music, you still likely know Facebook, Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery.

A company called Infinite Reality? Maybe not.

Which is interesting, because unlike those others, Infinite Reality, a developer of immersive virtual reality experiences, is based in Connecticut. While it employs 150 people in various places in the United States, it has 35 employees at its headquarters at 75 North Water St., in Norwalk.

You may hear a lot more about Infinite Reality in the coming months, because the privately held company is preparing to go public.

In December 2022, Infinite and Newbury Street Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), announced a definitive agreement to combine their businesses, along with plans to issue common stock and be listed on the Nasdaq stock market.

The transaction was expected to provide up to $128 million in proceeds and value the combined company at about $1.85 billion — with $1.7 billion of that attributable to Infinite Reality.

Newbury Street and Infinite have since been granted extensions from shareholders and Nasdaq to complete their combination, which now has a deadline of Sept. 23.

More recently, Infinite announced in July its $450 million acquisition of Landvault, a London-based company specializing in immersive technology and “digital twins” — virtual 3D models of physical objects — for commercial and government entities.

That deal, as well as a $350 million minority investment from an undisclosed private multifamily office focused on global technology and media, boosted Infinite’s overall valuation above $5 billion.

With the public offering still pending, there’s time to become familiar with Infinite Reality, which has already attracted some other, big-name investors, including members of the pop rock band Imagine Dragons and Rudy Gobert, the 7-foot-1 center for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves.

Play Gig-It

Infinite Reality describes itself as an “innovation company powering the next generation of digital media and e-commerce through artificial intelligence and immersive technologies.”

So-called immersive technology combines sight, sound and touch to allow users to more deeply interact with applications, content and experiences. Infinite Realty provides a platform for companies to create these experiences, whether for shopping online, playing games, or attending musical or sporting events, as well as to collect payments from users.

According to Sean Cross, president of Infinite Reality Entertainment, a division within the Norwalk-based business, the company’s origins date back nearly two decades to Facebook, a developer named John Acunto (who is Infinite Reality’s co-founder and CEO) and an app called Play Gig-It.

The app, described by Forbes as “Rock Band meets FarmVille” when it debuted in 2013, allows users to choose a venue and sponsor for a virtual concert, pick a musician, band or rapper to perform, and even select the virtual performer’s outfits and concert’s special effects. Users can then choose the set list, uploading music from their own collection, or buying it in the app.

Forbes reported at the time that Acunto — who earlier in his career worked at IBM and Apple — had invested three years and $6 million of his own money into a company called 212 Decibels to develop Play Gig-It. That was supplemented by $20 million from angel investors.

In an interview with Hartford Business Journal, Cross said the Play Gig-It app produced “the first video content ever posted to Facebook, and it went from zero to 36 million users in 41 days.”

He added that Play Gig-It’s contract with Facebook included a rider allowing the social media giant to buy it, which Mark Zuckerberg and company did — for $150 million.

Virtual Burning Man

Fast-forward to about 10 years ago, when Cross met Acunto.

Cross describes himself as a serial entrepreneur who has consulted with “some of the largest private equity firms in the world.” He created the Founders’ Roundtable, which now has more than 7,000 member CEOs, and it was through that organization that he met Acunto.

They soon discovered they both were frustrated with social media platforms.

“We got together and started talking about what was possible and where it could go,” Cross said. “What we wanted to do was give the content creators ownership back. We wanted content creators to be able to make money.”

That may seem obvious today thanks to all the “influencers” trying to get rich on Instagram and TikTok — including Cross’ daughter, who has 55,000 TikTok followers — but he said that was a foreign concept back then.

So, Acunto and Cross, joined by Elliott Jobe, who has a background as a photorealistic artist, decided to form a company that would help creators and artists finally get paid for their online efforts.

With help from Hilco Streambank, a New York-based financial consulting and intellectual property firm, they discovered Norwalk-based Tsu Inc., a web-based social-media company that had shut down and filed for bankruptcy, Cross said.

Hilco acquired Tsu Inc. out of bankruptcy court and sold it to the partners, who then worked to create a platform that commercial brands and content creators could use to monetize their work.

Then COVID-19 hit.

“With COVID, people were suddenly jumping into Zoom, and were suddenly open to immersive experiences,” Cross said. “And we said, if we can package this and take advantage of Zoom, this would change everything.”

That led them to create an “immersive experience” for Burning Man, the annual weeklong art and self-expression event held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. In 2020, the virtual event replaced the actual one, which was canceled due to the pandemic.

“What most people don’t know about Burning Man is all the top people in tech go,” Cross said. “Acceptance by that community is almost impossible, and it’s a group decision.”

The immersive experience was a hit and “it changed the way we thought about everything,” he said.

Display Social

Their company, which at this point was still using the name Tsu Inc., next reached out to Universal Music Group (UMG), which was already a corporate partner, and “started diving into … building out immersive social experiences,” Cross said.

Tsu Inc. was now an end-to-end platform using AI to create its immersive experiences.

“No one wanted to hear about AI just a few years ago,” Cross said. “But Amazon started paying us $1 million a year to get our data from the social engine so that we could train their AI recognition. They needed data to train. Today it’s an obvious thing, but not then.”

Going all-in on immersive experiences led the executives to rebrand the company as Display Social. They were working with 150 artists, celebrities, athletes and influencers that included rappers Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube.

Following its merger in January 2022 with Infinite Metaverse, a developer of immersive virtual worlds and platforms, Display Social evolved into Infinite Reality, and now works with a variety of brands and celebrities in a number of ways:

• It creates immersive metaverse experiences for organizations that include the Union Cycliste Internationale Track Championship League, a virtual reality bicycle racing league; FIM Speedway Grand Prix, a virtual motorcycle racing league; and the Drone Racing League. It also has a partnership with Vodafone Digital Asset Broker, and developed a metaverse showroom experience for London Tech week in 2023.
• TalentX is a social media monetization and talent management division that creates strategies for clients that range from social media influencers to fitness coach Jillian Michaels.
• Thunder Studios is an Emmy award-winning entertainment services, production and broadcasting division based in Long Beach, Calif.

Cross said Infinite Reality offers brands and influencers a platform that allows them to keep more of the money spent by users who interact with their apps and websites.

He also noted that, for companies like Warner Bros. Discovery, Infinite helps them reach an audience younger than age 35, the majority of whom don’t watch television but spend hours on their phones or tablets.