Vicarious, Inc.
Vicarious, Inc. is a San Francisco-based VR startup (founded 2014) that built a consumer social sharing application enabling users to mix personal photos and videos with 3D animated stickers, particle effects, immersive environments, 360 media, and audio.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Vicarious, Inc. does
Vicarious, Inc. is a San Francisco-based consumer virtual reality company founded in 2014 that built a social sharing application for mixing user-generated photos and videos with 3D animated stickers, particle effects, immersive environments, 360-degree media, and audio. The product was positioned as a creative VR tool for sharing personal life moments, implying a consumer-facing social/media use case rather than enterprise deployment. The company operated at very small scale (1-10 employees), was privately held, and appears to have been largely dormant in recent years — its primary web property (vicariousvr.com) is listed for sale via a domain marketplace, which is a strong signal of inactivity or wind-down.
The underlying technology combined user media capture with composited 3D visual layers (stickers, particles, environments) and spatial audio in a VR presentation context, suggesting a mobile-to-VR rendering pipeline. No further technical detail — proprietary models, rendering engines, or distribution architecture — is disclosed in the available data. The company's only known capital event is a 2016 funding round (amount undisclosed) from a syndicate of early-stage investors including Colopl Next, CSC Upshot, Maveron, and Presence Capital — investors with thematic interest in VR/AR and consumer mobile. There is no documented revenue model, pricing, customer segmentation, or monetization mechanism in the source material.
Vicarious, Inc. firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Vicarious, Inc.
- Website
- https://vicariousvr.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Vicarious, Inc. is a San Francisco-based VR startup (founded 2014) that built a consumer social sharing application enabling users to mix personal photos and videos with 3D animated stickers, particle effects, immersive environments, 360 media, and audio.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Vicarious, Inc. industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Virtual Reality Content Creation
- NAICS
- Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (5162)
- SIC
- Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Immersive/Interactive Animation (AR/VR/Real-Time) (MPAHACAN)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Interactive & Immersive Content Production (AR/VR/3D) (BPAFAIAL)
Keywords
Where Vicarious, Inc. is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Vicarious, Inc. business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D
Vicarious, Inc. product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Vicarious, Inc. offers a virtual reality content creation and sharing platform that enables consumers to combine their personal photos and videos with 3D animated stickers, particle effects, immersive environments, 360-degree media, and audio. The product is targeted at individual users who want to capture and share life's moments in an immersive VR format rather than traditional flat photo or video.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Vicarious VR
Companies that use Vicarious, Inc.
Customer profileIdeal customer profiles1 record
Vicarious, Inc. technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Vicarious, Inc. competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- AltspaceVR: Pioneer VR social platform for events, gatherings, and shared experiences (shut down by Microsoft in 2023). Directly comparable to Vicarious as a VR social platform whose trajectory illustrates the category's commercialization difficulties.
- Bigscreen: VR social application for shared viewing and gathering in virtual spaces (watching media, hanging out). Directly comparable to Vicarious around the theme of shared media experiences in VR.
- Within (VR): Premium VR storytelling and immersive content platform distributing narrative VR experiences. Comparable to Vicarious around immersive/3D content production and distribution for consumer audiences.
- VRChat: Largest consumer VR social platform, enabling users to share avatars, worlds, and media in shared virtual spaces. Directly comparable to Vicarious as a VR-native social/content-sharing destination for personal expression and moments.
- Rec Room: Cross-platform VR/2D social app focused on user-generated rooms, games, and shared experiences. Comparable to Vicarious as a consumer social platform where users co-create immersive content and share experiences.
Emerging players
- High Fidelity: Pioneer in spatial/VR shared-world infrastructure that pivoted away from consumer social VR. Comparable as a category peer whose strategic shifts underscore the difficulty of building independent VR social platforms.
- Lumeo: Creator-focused platform for capturing, editing, and sharing volumetric/3D video memories. Directly comparable to Vicarious's 'sharing life's moments in VR with 3D and 360 media' positioning, applied to a more recent spatial-capture paradigm.
- Spatial: Immersive collaboration and social platform supporting VR/AR/web, focused on galleries, meetings, and creator-led shared spaces. Comparable to Vicarious as a creator/content-forward immersive social platform with a similar sharing-and-display ethos.
- Mozilla Hubs: WebXR-based social platform for creating and sharing immersive 3D rooms (now community-maintained after Mozilla stepped back). Comparable as an open, content-sharing immersive platform; its own winding down illustrates the category's challenges.
Broad incumbents
- Meta Horizon Worlds: Meta's flagship VR social metaverse product, offering shared worlds for users to gather, create, and share experiences. Comparable as a broad incumbent pursuing VR-based social sharing at scale that Vicarious also targeted.
Market position
Strengths3 records
Weaknesses4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights3 records
Customer concentration
Vicarious, Inc. social profiles
Digital presenceVicarious, Inc. financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Vicarious, Inc. leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Vicarious, Inc. funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors4 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Vicarious, Inc. M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Vicarious, Inc.
What does Vicarious, Inc. do?
Vicarious, Inc. offers a virtual reality content creation and sharing platform that enables consumers to combine their personal photos and videos with 3D animated stickers, particle effects, immersive environments, 360-degree media, and audio. The product is targeted at individual users who want to capture and share life's moments in an immersive VR format rather than traditional flat photo or video.
When was Vicarious, Inc. founded?
Vicarious, Inc. was founded in 2014. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Vicarious, Inc. based?
Vicarious, Inc. is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
Who are Vicarious, Inc.'s main competitors?
Direct peers on record are AltspaceVR, Bigscreen, Within (VR), VRChat and Rec Room. Emerging players are High Fidelity, Lumeo, Spatial and Mozilla Hubs. Meta Horizon Worlds is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Vicarious, Inc. have an API?
No public API is recorded for Vicarious, Inc..
What industry is Vicarious, Inc. in?
Vicarious, Inc.'s product category is Virtual Reality Content Creation. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAHACAN, Immersive/Interactive Animation (AR/VR/Real-Time), with a secondary code of BPAFAIAL, Interactive & Immersive Content Production (AR/VR/3D). Its NAICS code is 5162 and its SIC code is 7990.