Haymarket HQ Square Table: Founders of the next VR unicorns (inc. live demo!)

Haymarket HQ (http://www.haymarkethq.com/)Square Table is a regular and informal community event at Australia’s first startup hub supporting entrepreneurs to grow into Asia. Listen to entrepreneurs open up about their setbacks, learnings and experiences starting up in Asia and Australia.

This week’s topic: creating a VR world to support diversity and inclusion, building up Meta (valued at US$300m), attending Y-combinator, getting the attention of Steve Wozniak, attracting investment from Alibaba and a live demo… This event is sponsored by Alibaba Cloud.

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This week's speaker: Brennan Hatton, Equal Reality

Brennan a.k.a. The Man In The Van (we just made that up, but he did live in a van for a while) has been building virtual worlds and communities for 10 years, founding his own companies in AR, VR, Game Dev and education. Brennan was scouted by Augmented Reality company Meta (https://www.metavision.com/meet-meta) to be employee number 7. Together they went through internationally acclaimed tech incubator Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley. Brennan helped nurture Meta’s vibrant global community of more than 1,000 developers and companies in AR innovation, with today’s valuation being in excess of US$300 Million. Today Brennan is working hard on his newest startup Equal Reality (https://www.equalreality.com) which delivers interactive diversity and inclusion training.

In one week, Equal Reality became:

#1 Most popular vr business app in Australia, -
#2 Most popular vr business app in America, -
#1 Most popular vr business app in the United Kingdom, -
#2 Most popular vr education app in Australia and the list continues for Viveport (Virtual Reality App Store).

This week's interviewer: Amber Cordeaux, Humense

Amber is an angel investor and co-founder of Humense (http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/startup/holographic-creation-company-gets-boost-from-alibabas-investment-arm-20160927-grphjz.html), a volumetric video company creating hardware and software solutions. Humense is backed by CRCM/Youku, a joint venture between Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and San Francisco’s CRCM Venture Capital and came into the spotlight when Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak tried it out on-stage in Sydney. (https://www.businessinsider.com.au/a-sydney-vr-startup-has-clinched-funding-from-alibabas-investment-fund-2016-9) Amber boasts a strong background in broadcast media and was the youngest TV station CEO in Australian history. She is also passionate about gender equality and inspiring other women to achieve their goals, especially in STEAM and innovation/entrepreneurship.

In summary: you’re not going to find a more impressive VR line-up in Sydney than at this event. Did we mention you can try out Equal Reality during the event at VR Corner (http://www.vrcorner.com.au), Sydney’s first VR Arcade that’s based at Haymarket HQ?

Amber will lead a discussion with Brennan regarding:

• His journey at Meta in Y-combinator, Silicon Valley

• Why he left to create Equal Reality in Sydney

• The future of VR/AR in work and daily life

• What the future beholds for Equal Reality and Humense

The format: one speaker, one interviewer, a few drinks and a lively discussion where everyone can join in.

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THIS EVENT IS SPONSORED BY ALIBABA CLOUD

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Alibaba Cloud (https://intl.aliyun.com/) helps startups with reliable, low cost, easy to use infrastructure needed to scale and grow any size business.

Create @ Alibaba Cloud (https://intl.aliyun.com/) is a program designed to provide your startup with the resources you need to get your business started in the Public Cloud. Enjoy $10,000+ worth of cloud credits, access to Alibaba cloud architects & China data centers and advice on the best configuration for your China strategy.

By entering this event you agree that the organiser may use photographs or video footage taken of yourself during the event for marketing purposes including DVD production, posting on our website and or social media platforms, or for future events.