The AR Roundup: December 2017 / January 2018
Published in
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)
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