Exploring Future Reality
State of Play
There is more money and talent invested in virtual reality than ever before. More than $100 million was invested by venture capital firms into virtual reality in each of the first two quarters of 2015, according to CB Insights. Rothenberg Ventures has invested the most between 2012 and 2015. Other investors include Andreesen Horowitz, Google Ventures, Comcast Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures. Facebook and Google are acquiring and supporting many virtual reality companies as well.
There’s a whole ecosystem that’s being built up to deliver a really great experience to the end-user.
“It’s not just venture capital money. It’s also the brands and the consumer electronics companies investing heavily,” said Jens Christensen, CEO of Jaunt. “There’s a whole ecosystem that’s being built up to deliver a really great experience to the end-user.”
A case in point is the Oculus headset: When it first debuted to the public through a Kickstarter campaign in 2011 it seemed to break new ground, combining many features thought necessary for a smooth virtual reality experience. Features like low latency and a wide field of vision were refined and delivered in one relatively cheap device.
For many, Oculus revived a long dormant interest in VR. A late spring 2013 demo of the Oculus led Matt Bell, founder of Matterport, to move from web virtual reality distribution to a company with a wider scope. “I realized the Oculus Rift would be the perfect medium for experiencing our content,” said Bell. “Because we have this incredible amount of immersion plus the ability to move around. The feeling you would get inside a Matterport model would be fantastic.”
Oculus was acquired by Facebook for $2 billion in March 2014. A consumer release is scheduled for early 2016. More than 200,000 developers self-identify as focusing on Oculus development, according to an announcement at the Oculus Connect developers conference in September 2015.
Even with limited rollouts and a soft-launch for those headsets that have been released, more than 2 million virtual reality devices are expected to be sold this year according to mobile industry research company CCS Insights. There are more than 260 startups working on virtual reality software, hardware and platforms listed on startup investment website AngelList.
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