# Darshan Shankar

> Darshan Shankar is the founder and CEO of Bigscreen, the VR company that started as a social movie theater you could share with strangers and grew into a hardware maker shipping the Bigscreen Beyond, billed as the world's smallest VR headset. A self-described VR obsessive and UC Berkeley EECS graduate, he sold his first Y Combinator startup before turning the whole company toward virtual reality in 2014. Today Bigscreen builds quarter-pound headsets with custom 3D-scanned facepads and OLED microdisplays, ships to eight regions, and is on track to cross $100M in annual revenue.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Bigscreen
- **Organizations:** Bigscreen, Flotype, True Ventures (Venture Scout)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BS, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley, Brookfield Central High School, Startup accelerator (alum), Y Combinator
- **Known for:** Founded and leads Bigscreen, one of the largest VR platforms in the world with millions of users., Created Bigscreen Beyond, marketed as the world's smallest VR headset at a little over a quarter pound., Pioneered per-user personalization in VR hardware: custom 3D-scanned facepads and fixed per-face IPD.

## Career timeline

- **2010** — Graduated UC Berkeley with a BS in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science; founded Flotype, an enterprise developer-tools startup.
- **2011** — Went through Y Combinator (Winter 2011); raised about $1.4M from Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator, and Salesforce Ventures for Flotype.
- **2014** — Founded Bigscreen, pivoting toward virtual reality.
- **2015** — Launched Bigscreen as a private beta in July, letting people share their PC desktop and watch screens together in VR.
- **2016** — Bigscreen's shared co-watching launched on Steam (April), becoming a long-running social VR theater app.
- **2017** — Raised a Series A (about $11M; total funding around $14M) from investors including True Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.
- **2023** — Announced Bigscreen Beyond, billed as the world's smallest VR headset, with OLED microdisplays, pancake optics and custom 3D-scanned facepads.
- **2025** — Announced Bigscreen Beyond 2 (March); shipping began July, selling roughly 3x the original; December was the company's largest shipping month.
- **2026** — Bigscreen marks 10 years of shared co-watching on Steam; operating in 8 regions with over half of sales international; targeting $100M+ annual revenue.

## Achievements

- Founded and leads Bigscreen, one of the largest VR platforms in the world with millions of users.
- Created Bigscreen Beyond, marketed as the world's smallest VR headset at a little over a quarter pound.
- Pioneered per-user personalization in VR hardware: custom 3D-scanned facepads and fixed per-face IPD.
- Grew Bigscreen from a software app into a hardware company on track to cross $100M in annual revenue.
- Built Bigscreen Beyond 2 to outsell the original roughly 3 to 1, with demand exceeding supply through 2025.
- Raised about $1.4M for his first startup Flotype from a16z, Y Combinator and Salesforce Ventures.
- Became a Venture Scout at True Ventures (2022).

## Latest updates

- **2025-07** — Bigscreen Beyond 2 began shipping, selling roughly 3x the original headset.
- **2025-12** — Largest shipping month in company history; demand continued to outpace supply.
- **2026-04** — Bigscreen marks a decade of shared co-watching on Steam; targeting $100M+ annual revenue and expansion to a Netherlands facility.

## Links

- Website: https://www.bigscreenvr.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/darshanshankar
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/DShankar
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/bigscreenvr

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/darshan-shankar
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-13