We’re still convinced Virtual Reality is about gaming consoles, but the business reality is different. Leaving the “hype area”, it is now a technology been applied more and more to companies in different industries.
What we need to know is that from now on Virtual Reality won’t be only a trend anymore. VR and AR are going to be applied to businesses and companies projects in a practical and efficient way.
In this article, you’ll find a bunch of real examples and practical cases about applications in VR and the benefits they’ve brought to international businesses (if you want to know more about real cases you shouldn’t miss out on the European Summit on Emerging Technologies which will be held in Milan on 25–26 March 2020, tickets here)
What are the projections of VR?
The size of the global VR market is today 16$ billions, with an estimated growth of 78$ billions in 2026: a turnover which won’t only be referred to games and the entertainment industry. Even if today the majority of VR developers works in games, the application of those technologies to companies in different industries is growing very fast. …
From a local 10k to the biggest races around the world, the online platform provides the definitive list
Name of business: findarace.com
Age of business: Since 2015
Location: Winchester, England
Team: David Wearn and Jacob Hibberd
Elevator pitch: Findarace.com is a marketplace for mass-participation sports events. So far this year, more than a million people have used findarace.com to find their next run, ride or swim.
What does findarace.com do?
Findarace.com lists thousands of endurance sports events, allowing users to find and enter events, from a local 10k to the biggest races around the globe.
How did you meet?
We have worked together in agencies for the last five years.
Where did the business idea come from?
Outside the office, we all enjoy running and cycling. We’re never happier than when a date’s locked in the diary and the countdown to race day has begun. Before findarace.com there was no single online hub listing these type of events — so we built our own. …
Using incentivisation, their aim is to become the premier booking platform for teams to manage and arrange their sport activities
Name of business: Spryt Ltd
Age of business: Almost 2 years
Location: London
Team: Daragh Donohoe (co-founder) and Paul Lyes (co-founder)
Elevator pitch: Spryt makes sport happen
What does Spryt do?
We are creating a product to remove the friction of organising a team, especially in terms of booking a facility, chasing payments and finding last-minute stand-in players.
Using tokenisation, organisers will be rewarded for making games happen, while players will be rewarded for their participation and fair play.
How did you meet?
We worked together at Goldman Sachs 15 years ago and have been close friends ever since.
Where did the business idea come from?
We initially built a social discovery platform for people to find events and sporting partners. It soon became apparent, however, that in order to make sport happen we would need to find a way to assist and reward organisers and incentivise players to participate in the right spirit. …
The software provides digital health solutions to facilitate the use of evidence-based exercise.
Name of business: TrackActive
Age of business: 5 years
Location: London
Team: Ian Prangley (co-founder), Michael Levens (co-founder)
Elevator pitch: TrackActive is the ‘Rehab to Wellness’ digital solution for people with musculoskeletal conditions
What does TrackActive do?
We develop digital health solutions to facilitate the use of evidence-based exercise, and information to improve health and wellness outcomes in people musculoskeletal conditions.
How did you meet?
We met back in 2001 on the tennis circuit as we both played tennis at a high level. We were both born in Brisbane, Australia and later moved to London.
Where did the business idea come from?
It came from a frustration with patients not doing rehabilitation exercises prescribed by physiotherapists. This was due to paper-based methods of delivery and a lack of communication in between clinical sessions. …
“Data is the most powerful tool to make an impact in rapidly growing sectors, and it’s a very important asset to scale our app further.“
Name of business: Shout Platform Ltd.
Age of business: 2.5 years
Location: Manchester
Team: Tomas Paulik (CEO), Juraj Salapa (Business Analyst), Kiran Arokiasamy (Business Developer), Vaughan Allen (non-executive director),
Elevator pitch: Shout drives local discovery by helping businesses and sports organisations unlock the power of their location data.
What does Shout do?
At Shout, we have completely reimagined the way that local organisations can engage with their customers. Our app-based product shows users unique, interesting and personalised opportunities around them. Shout captures and compiles activities and information in a map and newsfeed. …
Online platform and mobile app that allows users to find adventurous outdoor activities across the UK to suit their location and ability
This interview is part of our OpenActive Accelerator startups series.
Name of business: Outdoor Nation Online Ltd
Age of business: 1 year
Location: UK
Team: Grenville, Richard, Tim
Elevator pitch: Outdoor Nation wants to get more people active in the great outdoors, wherever they live, whatever their abilities and whatever their background. We do this by making it easier for newcomers to discover outdoor pursuits, and by linking people to activities based on their individual preferences and abilities.
What does Outdoor Nation do?
Outdoor Nation helps people to discover and participate in outdoor activities throughout the UK via an online portal and mobile app, providing clear and simple information on where to go, what’s needed and who to go with. …
Users can search through 100,000 activities GoSweat has to offer, and book a fitness class to suit them
This interview is part of our OpenActive Accelerator startups series.
Name of business: GoSweat
Age of business: 2 years
Location: London
Team: Alex Hind (CEO), Kent McClymont (CTO), Stephanie Newport-Booth (COO), Owen Baldwin-Evans (Marketing Manager)
Elevator pitch: GoSweat is transforming the sport and fitness industry by making every activity instantly accessible and bookable. From climbing to yoga, boxing to bouldering, we offer instant access to the best activities.
What does GoSweat do?
Starting with fitness classes, we want to allow users to search for the ‘what’ and ‘where’, so they can instantly book one of the 100,000 activities we have on offer. …
Adapted exercise programmes improve performance by combining health and activity data.
This interview is part of our OpenActive Accelerator startups series.
Name of business: Anticipatory Health Limited t/a TrainAsONE
Age of business: 4 years
Location: Norfolk and London
Team: Sean Radford, David Brownlee, Tom Brophy
Elevator pitch: TrainAsONE is a personal AI running coach that solves the problem of keeping runners of all abilities fit, healthy and injury-free whilst training to reach their goals. This is achieved by providing each runner with their very own training plan that constantly adapts to the user’s individual lifestyle and with every run they perform (or miss).
What does TrainAsONE do?
By analysing the activity and health data of all of our users and linking it to future outcomes, the TrainAsONE system produces the most appropriate and effective training for each individual to reach their personal goals. One important feature is injury reduction — we aim to reduce the current figure of 56% of runners who suffer a running-related injury each year, by a factor of over 10, to below 5%. In addition to the performance and injury gains, our mission is to promote general health and wellness through activity and behavioural changes. …
The mobile app uses mixed reality to immerse users in physical activity adventures.
This interview is part of our OpenActive Accelerator startups series.
Name of business: Onigo
Age of business: 1 year
Team: Alex Stanley (CEO), Vikki Read (CTO)
Location: London
Elevator pitch: We create mobile adventure games to improve mental and physical health.
What does Onigo do?
Onigo creates exercise experiences which blend intellectual challenges with physical activities. Delivered through your mobile but experienced in the real world, each adventure sees teams take on a themed mission against the clock in which they must visit certain locations, uncover clues and solve cryptic puzzles.
How did you meet?
Alex is the founder of the business and Vikki was recently hired as CTO. …
The mobile app gradually increases users’ physical activity levels over a 12-week period to reduce disease risk
This interview is part of our OpenActive Accelerator startups series.
Name of business: iPrescribe Exercise
Team: Carron Manning, Lewis Manning
Age of business: 2 years
Location: London
Elevator pitch: iPrescribe Exercise is a free, evidence-based iOS app which analyses the user’s health and produces a personalised 12-week physical activity programme that gradually helps people to increase your activity levels and manage any chronic medical conditions.
What does iPrescribe Exercise do?
Developed by Chartered Physiotherapists, iPrescribe Exercise is based on an algorithm that analyses the user’s health and resting heart rate, and then prescribes a personalised 12-week physical activity programme.
The app, which has been published on the NHS Apps library, sets the exercise intensity and duration based on the information provided by the user. This can play an important role in the management of several long-term health conditions for which we can selectively target (e.g. heart disease, diabetes and hypertension). It can also help those who lead a sedentary lifestyle, or are at risk of developing chronic diseases, to become more active, and reduce their disease risk. The app is based on scientific evidence and follows the latest medical guidelines for exercise prescription. …
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