The fresh capital for Atopia comes from renowned investors such as FOV Ventures and Heartfelt_ (formerly APX) as well as several business angels. The successful investment round is a crucial step for Atopia towards its goal of making culture accessible to everyone through immersive experiences.
Annabell Vacano, one of the founders, explains:
“Atopia is like Netflix for culture.”
Culture enthusiasts can immerse themselves in a boundless cultural offering via any browser or a VR app, either alone or as a shared experience with friends. The business strategy of the B2B2C platform includes both licensing to institutions and revenue generation on the consumer side. Vacano adds:
“We are creating a new source of income for art and cultural institutions by enabling them to reach visitors around the world for the first time.”
Atopia’s founding team combines expertise in management and technology with knowledge of the cultural industry: Annabell Vacano is a cultural consultant and violinist, Valentin Diehl is a trained historian and has been working in software development for many years. With this background, the team has already won 15 renowned cultural institutions as launch partners, including the Kunsthalle Mannheim, Bavarian Broadcasting, the Berlin Festival, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Gropius Bau, and Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle.
Atopia has also won several competitions. Among other achievements, the startup won first place in the “Startup to Watch” category at the Augmented World Expo (AWE) in Silicon Valley, received founder awards such as Start?Zuschuss!, and was nominated for the ArtTech Prize and the Social Impact Award Germany.
