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eCommerce

Digital River Helps VR Company Pivot to Conferencing Services

Zoom calls. So hot these days. Although many employees have hopped on one (or seemingly one million) Zoom calls since the work-from-home shift began, most people haven’t tried a very futurist twist on video conferencing — virtual reality. Minneapolis-based eCommerce company Digital River seems to think there’s some viability there; the company has announced that its MyCommerce platform is the backbone of a virtual-reality company’s push toward worldwide connection.

SPACES, a company that has provided VR experiences for theme parks and retail locations, is making the pivot to conferencing tech in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. To facilitate the rollout, SPACES connected with Digital River to leverage its eCommerce knowhow. The Minneapolis company is handling all of the back-end nuts and bolts such as taxes, compliance, and localization, allowing SPACES to offer its customers a virtual reality conferencing solution that integrates with zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, and WebEx (the service requires a VR headset).

“SPACES is bringing a unique offering to the market at a time when we’re all spending the majority of our days on video conferencing platforms, whether for business or personal use.” Jason Nyhus, senior vice president of sales, marketing and partnerships at Digital River, said in a release. “We knew how quickly they were looking to set up their eCommerce presence and we were confident that our team and solution could deliver.”

Digital River had a busy start to 2020 with the announcement of $50 million raised in incremental funding and the hire of a new CFO. We’re guessing virtual reality didn’t factor into those, but who knows? Maybe Christopher Bernander is just a really impressive collection of polygons…

Alex Skjong
Alex oversees the content produced for BETA, Twin Cities Startup Week, and tech.mn. When he’s not writing or editing, there’s a good chance he’s enjoying a refreshing brew and explaining the merits of heavy metal (of which there are many).