Australian archaeological startup raises $679,000 to rebuild ancient sites in VR

Archaeology isn’t an easy job, but it becomes easier in virtual reality, where you can walk around ancient buildings as if they were still there.

Lithodomos VR, an Australian virtual reality archaeological startup, knows this and has raised $900,000 in Australian dollars ($679,000 U.S.) in a seed funding round.

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Melbourne-based Lithodomos VR creates what it calls breathtaking, archaeologically accurate reconstructions of the ancient world in VR for use in the tourism, education, and entertainment industries. It has contracts for content in Spain, for various museum installations, a video in the Berlin Film Festival (VR category), and an app in Jerusalem, and that is just a start.

Simon Young started the company in 2016, and it was incubated at Mktplace Ventures. Young recently submitted his PhD thesis in archaeology at the University of Melbourne.

The startup has a team of archaeologists, computer modellers, and content distributors. The company’s products are available for ancient sites and have attracted high-level discussions with leading educational institutions, global hardware and software companies, and archaeologists around the globe.

This funding round will allow Lithodomos VR to further capitalize on its role as an archaeology virtual reality company. It is already expanding in Europe.

“Our obsession over archaeological accuracy is what makes us stand out,” said Simon Young, the company’s founder and CEO, in a statement. “In just a few months, we’ve grown from little more than an idea to a fully operational VR content production and distribution company with nine team members.”

He added, “From the beginning, we have had only one goal: to bring the ancient world to life for everyone using virtual reality. This funding round is the next step forward.”

The company’s free app, Ancient World in VR, is available on Google Play now, and it has a paid app, Ancient Jerusalem in VR (Google Play, App Store).

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Lithodomos VR has built a VR reconstruction of the Arènes de Lutèce, in Paris, as it would have looked 2,000 years ago during the Roman era. Users can experience the reconstruction either at home or on-site with hardware of their choosing.