Technology

Becoming a venture capitalist is notoriously difficult. One part timing, one part experience, another part network. Rarely can someone provide succinct instructions on how to break into the field of private market investing or how to create your own VC fund.

Onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco, established VCs Theresia Gouw, the founder of a new firm called aCrew Capital, and Floodgate co-founder Ann Miura-Ko explained what they see as two distinct paths to the top of VC.

One path is long, calculated and requires endurance. The first step is to become an associate at a venture capital fund (this typically requires a college degree and a few years working in investment banking or in the greater finance industry). Next, you spend several years learning the ins and outs of the trade. And finally, once you&ve developed a portfolio and reputation in startups investing, you can rise to the partner ranks or raise your own VC fund.

&When I was starting in 2008, everyone said ‘no one starts a venture capital firm,& & Miura-Ko, who launched Floodgate nearly a decade ago after a stint as an analyst at CRV and seven years obtaining a Ph.D. in cybersecurity, told TechCrunchConnie Loizos. &Today, there are so many different paths into the market and thatboth an opportunity and a huge challenge … The question is how do you stand out? … You have to figure out whatyour schtick.&

Gouw, for her part, was a managing partner at the renowned firm Accel from 1999 to 2014 after consulting for Bain - Company. In 2014, she co-founded one of the first female-run venture capital firms, Aspect Ventures, alongside Jennifer Fonstad. Last month, however, the pair announced the firm would be splitting up, with Gouw launching aCrew and Fonstad starting Owl Capital.

Gouw, said to be one of the wealthiest women in venture thanks to several high-profile bets, says raising your own fund is all about relationships: &I think there are many great entry paths into [venture] now,& she said. &Remember what makes you stand out as an investor is investing in great companies… These people are going to be the references for you when you want to raise your first fund. Itabout investing in great people who are trying to do great things.&

The other route to venture is newer and simpler. Just start making investments, the two explained. This only works if you have money to invest, i.e. if you&ve sold your startup for a decent sum or you&re being paid an exorbitant sum by one of the tech giants.

&Theresome great investors who went out and started building their own individual track records as either advisors or angels,& Gouw said. &And, you know, thereobviously a lot of great entrepreneurs who then go and start venture funds.&

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Apple has reportedly acquired U.K. special effects studio IKinema, a startup that may be useful in Applequest to bolster its mobile devices with AR special effects and in its more far-flung attempts to enter the AR/VR headset market.

The company issued its standard confirmation for the deal to TechCrunch &Apple buys smaller companies from time to time, and we generally don&t discuss our purpose or plans.& The news was first reported by FT after rumors were floated by MacRumors. .

IKenema has used motion-tracking work to live-animate the bodily movements of digital characters, but the team has also stockpiled this information to create realistic models of movements of digital characters in digital environments, specifically in the context of games and virtual reality titles.

These models were highlighted in the startupRunTime product that integrated into game engines like Epic Games& Unreal Engine. RunTime was powering avatar interactions in experiences like The Void&Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire,& a virtual reality experience at Disney resorts, as well as in works by studios like Capcom Linden Lab, Microsoft Studios, Nvidia, Respawn and Square Enix.

RunTime being used in Impulse Gears& PSVR game, Farpoint

The companyOrion product allowed motion capture with lower-cost input, essentially syncing limited input like head and hand movement with motion models that could allow for a hybrid solution that still looked realistic. The technology was being used for visualizations by teams at NASA, Tencent and others.

What does Apple want with this company?

There are a handful of spots that this tech could prove helpful, the most obvious of which would be bringing special AR effects to the iOS camera, juxtaposing the spatial data that the camera can gather from a real-world space with digital AR models. This could theoretically allow something like an AR figure to walk up your stairs or sit on a chair. The issue iKenema doesn&t solve in these scenarios is computer vision segmentation to be able to tell what surface is a table versus a floor versus a couch cushion, but enabling digital models to interact with these spaces is a big advance.

Where else?

Well, a little bit more of a reach for Apple would be using this tech in the context of a VR or AR avatar system. And although iKenema worked a lot with motion capture, they did so with the explicit purpose of designing models for digital humans to interact with digital environments in real time. Their solution was already being used by virtual reality developers to give VR gamers a way to visualize how their own bodies moved in VR given limited inputs.

Facebook Horizonlegless avatars

Virtual reality systems typically only know the location of your head and hands, given trackers are on the controllers and headset, but IKinema solution allowed developers to make the rest of users& in-game bodies look more natural inside games. This is a pretty difficult challenge, and itthe reason plenty of VR titles have made avatar systems that are missing legs, necks, arms and shoulders, because everything looks awful if the movements are off.

Applecomputer vision needs are only heightening as they bowl forward on AR and VR devices while also aiming to bolster the camera on the iPhone as a point of differentiation from Google and Samsung devices.