Moving beyond screens with physical VR arenas

This article is a part of Startup Spotlight, a series that features young, up-and-coming startups.

Photo credit: VRena

Christophe Guyard and Lê Thị Ngọc Dung recently shared a team-building virtual reality session. They noticed participants laughing, moving together, and ignoring their phones.

This sparked VRena, an initiative bringing social VR entertainment to Vietnam.

😟 Problem

Vietnamese consumers spend heavy amounts of time gaming alone behind screens. Immersive group entertainment options remain scarce outside of cafes and cinemas.

Friends, families, and corporate teams lack venues for active, face-to-face social interaction.

💡 Solution

VRena operates large-scale physical arenas where players engage in wireless virtual reality games. The startup provides the following core capabilities, including:

• Free-roaming multiplayer movement within a shared physical and virtual space.
• Short, accessible sessions covering team shooters, escape rooms, and family games.
• Face-to-face gameplay requires physical activity and active teamwork.

Photo credit: VRena

📊 Market size

Vietnam features a young demographic and high mobile gaming engagement. VRena targets 300 players weekly to break even at its first center. The startup plans to scale capacity past 1,000 weekly players.

🤝 Team

• Emile Jacquet. Operations lead. Brings international hospitality management experience across Europe, Africa, and Asia.
• Lê Thị Ngọc Dung. Co-founder and chairman. Oversees corporate governance and long-term development strategy.
• Christophe Guyard. Strategic Partner. Offers entrepreneurial guidance for business expansion.
• Đoàn Thụy Diệu Phương. Legal advisor. Provides compliance support for Vietnamese market partnerships.

🚀 Traction

• Opened its first operational center inside Ho Chi Minh City’s Ha Do Centrosa D10 complex.
• Secured an exclusive multi-year partnership for Swiss-developed free-roaming VR technology.
• Validated foot traffic and stay duration by integrating a Gong Cha franchise on-site.

🏆 Competition

Existing options include static home setups and traditional shopping mall arcades. These competitors typically offer single-player or limited-motion capabilities focused on hardware. 

💰 Financials

🚩 Risks