High Fidelity, a new startup from Second Life founder Philip Rosedale, has raised $2.4 million out of a $3.4 million round, according to a new SEC filing. Listed in the filing are Rosedale, Freddy Heiberger, and Ryan Karpf (Heiberger and Karpf and ex- Linden Lab staffers, and co-founders of Rosedale’s last startup Coffee and Power).
There aren’t too many details of what High Fidelity does, but according to the site, the company is working on developing “big ideas.” Some examples of this are: “What will the information spaces of the future look like? 20 years ago the web didn’t exist. What’s next? How will address schemas and navigational metaphors evolve to keep pace with computing power?”
In a job posting on the site, High Fidelity writes that the startup is “prototyping the technology and user experience of a next-generation virtual reality system. It is an expansive vision with a number of moving parts that are each unique and compelling new technology.” With the company’s experience developing for Second Life, we’re curious to see what a next-generation virtual reality system looks like.
Rosedale previously launched Coffee and Power in 2011 as an online marketplace where people can buy and sell small jobs. The marketplace included its own virtual currency and payment system, live communications and public chat, a game-like rating and review system, and a real-world facility where users can meet and work together. It also opened up a co-working space in San Francisco where users could meet in a safe public area to work together and conduct transactions and services. The startup raised $1 million in funding from Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos, Greylock Partners, Mitch Kapor, Catamount Ventures and Kevin Rose.
It’s unclear what the future is for Coffee and Power. The startup sunsetted its co-working space in San Francisco last October and the actual site seems to be shut down. But the company’s Workclub mobile app is still alive.
One thing is for sure, anything Rosedale and the former Second Life team puts its hands on should be interesting (especially if the startup is working on some of the bold initiatives outlined on the High Fidelity homepage).
We reached out to Rosedale for comment and will update if and when we hear back.