The AR Roundup: December 2017 / January 2018

Tom Emrich
Super Ventures Blog
3 min readJan 16, 2018

Here’s what you missed in the AR+VR space for December ‘17/January ‘18

Numbers

  • Digi-Capital issued its 2017 AR+VR investment report which concluded that 2017 was a record breaking year last year as startups raised over $3 billion across 28 AR/VR categories (Digi-Capital)
  • Sony announced that 2 million PSVR units were sold since its launch in 2016. Sony’s headset broke the 1 million mark last June. According to analysts, PSVR makes up almost 50% of the million VR headsets sold in Q3 of 2017 (Engadget)
  • ARtillry Intelligence report that estimates that the consumer augmented reality opportunity will grow from $975 million last year to $15.8 billion within four years (ARtillry)

Money

Big news

  • Apple acquires Shazam for $400M (The Verge)
  • Apple Gives $390 Million to Finisar for FaceID iPhone Component (Bloomberg)
  • Mapbox acquires augmented reality activity tracking app Fitness AR (TechCrunch)

Platforms & Tools

  • 3D vision tech startup Fyusion raises $22M (TechCrunch)

Hardware

  • Varjo raises $6.7M to ship First Batch of “Human Eye-Resolution” VR Prototypes (Road to VR)

AR+VR Content

  • Augmented reality startup Apprentice bags $2.5M to build on uptick in biopharma interest (Fierce BioTech)
  • Cortopia raises $2.5M to evolve its VR game, Wand (Pocketgamer)
  • MEL Science raised $2.2M to bring virtual reality chemistry lessons to schools in the U.S (CNBC)
  • Portland’s Streem raises $1.7M for its home service professional AR solution (BizJournal)

Funds

  • CrossCut Ventures announces $125 million fund targeting L.A. startups (VentureBeat)
  • Inventure Launches €110m Nordic Early Stage Venture Capital Fund focusing on deep tech (FINSMES)
  • U of Washington opens AR+VR research lab funded by Facebook, Google & Huawei (GeekWire)

News

Hardware

  • Magic Leap finally unveils its augmented reality goggles, says it’s shipping Creator Version next year (The Verge)
  • Vuzix debuts first Amazon Alexa-Enabled Digital Glasses at CES (The Verge)
  • Lenovo Mirage Solo launches the first standalone Daydream VR headset with World Sense (TechCrunch)
  • HTC launches the Vive Pro boasting higher resolution and built-in headphones along with a wireless adaptor (The Verge)
  • Flex introduces its AR smartglasses reference design featuring Lumus display at CES (Next Reality)
  • Merge debuts a 6DoF AR blaster at CES (The Verge)

Software

  • AR gets its Fart app moment with fARTjacker (Mashable)
  • Microsoft introduces Simplygon Cloud 3D object optimization for AR and VR (TechCrunch)
  • Snapchat launches augmented reality developer platform Lens Studio (TechCrunch)
  • Facebook opens AR platform and ‘World Effects’ to all developers (TechCrunch)
  • Google launches Star Wars & Stranger Things AR stickers (USA Today)
  • Mozilla Launches WebXR Viewer iOS App (Next Reality)
  • Pokémon GO gaining iPhone exclusive AR+ mode powered by Apple’s ARKit (9to5 Mac)
  • Google releases YouTube VR for Steam (The Verge)
  • Facebook opens its social VR Spaces platform to HTC Vive (TechCrunch)
  • Google shuts down Tango (TechCrunch)

This update is presented monthly at the AR Bay Area meetup. Join here on Meetup.com.

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Tom Emrich
Super Ventures Blog

AR Pioneer 🚀 On a mission to make #AugmentedReality for everyone. New blog posts including recent AR Roundups are on LinkedIn, head on over!