Japanese mobile giant Gree has created a new $12 million investment fund designed to help virtual and augmented reality developers take flight. 

Run by the developer's San Francisco-based Gree VR Capital arm, the GVR Fund is aiming to fuel growth by investing in early-stage virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality companies. 

The fund has already given two companies a leg up, investing in VRChat Inc, a platform that allows users to create, publish and explore VR worlds with others, and Spaces, Inc. 

"The GVR Fund highlights Gree's commitment to the potential of virtual reality as an emerging platform,” said Gree SVP, Naoki Aoyagi. 

“We not only see ourselves as a content developer but as an investor as well. We want to create same values we successfully did in the past through investments in companies when the mobile platform took off.”

Fellow mobile game company and VR investor, Colopl, which established its own $50 million VR fund, is supporting the GVR Fund as a limited partner.