The growing prominence of virtual reality within the entertainment world has led two former DreamWorks Animation execs to launch Spaces, a California-based indie VR and mixed-reality startup that has secured US$3 million in initial funding from Comcast Ventures.

Spaces co-founders Shiraz Akmal (CEO) and Brad Herman (CTO) played key roles in creating DreamWorks Animation’s VR experiences through 2015. The duo previously led the development and creation of a How to Train Your Dragon 2 VR flying experience for Oculus Rift, the initial version of augmented reality app DreamWorks Color, and the DreamWorks VR app.

Also joining the Spaces team is executive creative director Dean Orion, whose career credits include creating interactive, location-based attractions for DreamWorks and Walt Disney Imagineering.

Spaces is already developing VR and MxR experiences for NBCUniversal, mobile developer Big Blue Bubble and Microsoft, and the company is targeting leading platforms like Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Microsoft HoloLens, Samsung Gear VR, PlayStation VR and Google Cardboard.