RLab.NYC is Open for Business!
Super Ventures joins forces with RLab.NYC to create a destination hub for XR startups, investors and corporations
I Love NY. And I love XR.
I have been loving XR for over 12 years as an entrepreneur, investor, and ecosystem builder.
In 2009, Ori co-founded Ogmento in NYC as the first venture-backed AR company in the USA. It was eventually acquired (as Flyby Media) by Apple and became the foundation for ARKit. Ori also started ARNY — the first (and longest running) AR meetup which lit a fire in the NYC AR community and injected the energy to take it nationwide and later global.
In 2012 Ori co-founded AR.org — a non-profit with a mission to advance the AR industry and has been producing AWE — the world’s best XR event series — across 3 continents with over 10,000 attendees and a worldwide community of over 250,000 XR professionals.
And in 2015 Ori founded Super Ventures with partners Tom Emrich, Matt Miesnieks, and Mark Billinghurst as the first fund dedicated to investing in early stage AR startups with the goal to put to work this incredible network to help XR startups succeed in the market.
So what’s next in 2018?
I have been looking forward to this day for many years.
Every once in a while a revolutionary technology comes along that changes everything. XR is such a technology.
And the pioneers spearheading this industry today are lucky to be leading this revolution.
Thanks to many of you, It’s finally happening: XR is set for explosive growth.
How can I tell? 5 strong signals are supporting this claim:
1. Top analysts agree it has the potential to reach a $200B market — they don’t always agree on when this will happen, but definitely within the next decade.
2. We are about to hit 1 Billion XR users by early 2019 — that’s on smartphones and headsets which is a great installed based to work with until smartglasses are ready for wider adoption.
3. Tech giants are all in. They are making big bets — they see it as the next growth engine post Mobile.
4. Fortune 1000 companies are very excited about XR and are also very pragmatic: thanks to conclusive evidence with ROI studies showing 25%-40% and even 99% savings — most fortune1000 (over 70% according to recent surveys) have either implemented XR or plan to implement it in the next couple of years.
5. Finally — Investors have poured a record $7.2B into XR startups in the past 12 months (Source Digi-Capital).
These 5 strong signals are why in 2018 every startup, corporation and investor must look into XR or be left behind. You don’t want to be late to the next wave of Spatial Computing. Spatial Computing is about to make us all better at anything we do in our daily lives. It will make us Supers.
For more evidence see my opening keynote at AWE EU 2018
2018 is the perfect time to open a center dedicated to XR
Enter the RLab.NYC! (see press release)
I am super excited to join forces with Justin Hendrix and the RLab team to support the creation of a hub for the industry where Super Ventures will invest its resources and capital in XR startups from around the globe and help them capture the opportunity while generating economic impact in NYC.
Why NYC?
New York City has the necessary ingredients to become the center of gravity for XR in the USA and the world.
XR is not about tech — it’s about enhancing Life; and there is no other city that inspires life more than NYC: It’s home to corporations in a wide variety of industries, it has smart capital looking for new growth opportunities, and it’s a magnet for highly skilled and diverse talent.
Super Ventures is happy to establish the RLab as our new home base on the east coast, and we are eager to engage our extensive worldwide network of 250,000 XR professionals (including thousands of companies) with the Lab.
Our vision
Our vision is to make RLab’s building 22 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard — a destination for every startup, corporation, investor, and anyone who wishes to join the next wave of spatial computing. The RLab is where you’ll want to congregate with like minded XR innovators, where a wide range of the latest display and interaction devices and demos will be available to try for yourself. Expect to find there a vibrant community of AR and VR startups, investors and mentors seeking to support promising teams, as well as corporations looking to partner with startups.
But we can’t do it alone
This is a call to action for all of you in the New York ecosystem and around the world to engage with us — we need your help to make this vision a reality.
Startups ready to make the next leap forward — applications to join the accelerator are now open!
Corporations who are looking to partner for XR innovation projects — reach out to us.
Investors who’d like to invest in early stage XR stars — contact us today.
Benefits to startups who join RLab.NYC
- Access to the best experts and mentors in AR and VR in the Super Ventures team and its network
- Funding support from Super Ventures and co-investors focused on AR and VR
- Matching with corporations seeking innovation in AR and VR
- Participation in AWE event series and meetups around the world
Benefits to Investors
- Get updates on XR startups, partnerships and other announcements related to RLab.NYC
- Get Invited to RLab demo days and related events
- Contact us today
