Glue raises €3.5 million for its immersive VR collaboration platform, bringing colleagues together in virtual spaces

Glue Collaboration, the Helsinki-based VR-driven collaboration platform, has raised a €3.5 million seed round led by Maki.vc. Other investors include Reaktor Innovations, Bragiel Brothers, and Foobar Technologies. Business Finland, the Finnish funding agency for technology and innovation, and OP Bank also participated.

Glue is a cloud-based platform that facilitates virtual meetings between people around the world, bringing them together in a three-dimensional virtual space that’s completely customizable to the group. The experience is designed to serve as a powerful alternative to expensive physical face-to-face meetings and lackluster audio or video calling systems.

The company, which began 15 years ago as an award-winning animation, XR and gaming studio and morphed into Glue in 2017, believes effective team collaboration requires not just communication but also the immersive feeling of "true presence" with other colleagues.

In fact, Glue has just announced a new showcase of Microsoft security solutions in tandem with MacWell Creative, specifically an interactive, worldwide “escape room”-like VR experience called Intersection. Intersection brings together up to five participants in a shared virtual space to solve various cybersecurity puzzles and hacks in a race against the clock.

Glue CEO Jussi Havu said: “We’re excited to partner with MacWell Creative on this concept, which serves as an excellent demonstration of what’s now possible from immersive 3D virtual spaces. When you enter Intersection, you interact with others as if you were face-to-face – there’s a true sense that you’re there with your teammates in the same physical space. That makes for high-quality collaboration as well as the much better rate of recall and retention that comes from learning by doing.”

Commenting on the investment, Havu continued: “We are delighted that this group of leading technology investors believe in Glue and share our vision. We are now well positioned to accelerate the commercial phase of our growth and help organizations do business in a more productive and sustainable way.”

Ilkka Kivimäki, partner at Maki.vc, said: “Providing the optimal setting for effective virtual collaboration is no easy undertaking, but we are excited about the progress Glue has made. The result is a platform that offers enormous potential for businesses serious about reducing travel and cutting their carbon footprint.”