Vū Studios closes historic seed round

Vū Studio's founders told us in December that they'd raised the biggest seed round ever for a Tampa tech company. Today, they're closing that seed round with even more money in the bank.

What's happening: Founders Tim Moore and Jon Davila added $7 million from other investors to the $10 million they got from ADX Labs late last year — totaling $17 million to fuel the expansion of Vu's Tampa-Nashville-Vegas virtual studio network.

• The additional funding comes from Topmark Partners and angel investment syndicates from Tampa, Orlando and Texas.
• NFL player and Venice native Trey Burton is also among the investors.

What they do: Vū, which took over former retail spaces at University Mall in 2020, uses an LED volume screen made up of 500 panels to create realistic backdrops that can move and change along with camera angles.

• It's as close as you can possibly get to a location without actually being there and what Davila calls "game engine technology combined with traditional production."
• In the year since Vū opened, it's been used by brands like WWE, Mercedes, Apple, and Neiman Marcus along with artists like Bad Bunny and Twenty One Pilots.

What's new: Davila and Moore also added the Vū Dome to their high-tech collection in Tampa.

• It's a sound stage in a 30-foot diameter dome with their custom curved HD LED screens to provide a 180 by 90 degree volume.