HTC announces Dave Haynes as Vive X director in Europe

HTC Corporation announced today that it has appointed Dave Haynes as the director of Vive X in Europe.

The newly created role comes alongside HTC Vive’s expansion of its $100m global VR/AR accelerator program to open it up to European startups. They’ll be opening their sixth location in London, with the space aiming to act as a hub for VR/AR companies anywhere in Europe. This London locale joins the other Vive X locations inTaipei, Beijing, Shenzhen, Tel Aviv and San Francisco.

Dave Haynes was part of the investment team for early-stage seed fund outfit Seedcamp, investing in VR companies like SplashVR and TheWaveVR, in addition to setting up Augmentor, the first UK-based program for VR and AR investment. He also led business development for Berlin-based start-up SoundCloud.

Of his appointment, Dave said; ‘I’m thrilled to be joining the team at HTC Vive. Vive X is the most active investor in VR startups, and establishing a base in Europe for the first time is an important step. Companies here are already applying immersive technologies to solve valuable problems across sectors such as health, education, design and we’re excited to back the world-class talent that Europe has to offer.”

Paul Brown, HTC Vive’s general manager in Europe, added: “It’s fantastic to have Dave onboard to launch and run Vive X here in Europe, working closely with our global Vive X team. Dave has a deep understanding of entrepreneurs and what it takes to grow an early stage business as well as a passion for backing founders from his time at Seedcamp.”