Backers of Immersive Tech have upbeat outlook

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The UK Immersive Tech: VC Investment Report depicts a buoyant mood for the category which includes virtual and extended reality and haptics, with more confident companies and 35% of investors surveyed expecting investment levels to increase over the next 12 months.

The publication, from Immerse UK and HTC VIVE X, features 31 innovative, fast-growing immersive tech ventures that have raised significant amounts of venture capital and angel investment.

It aims to inspire more investors to get involved in the sector, help XR startups by sharing the experiences and lessons learned of featured companies, and to demonstrate the breadth of talent across the UK

The report includes:

• Ten featured companies, offering in depth case studies highlighting their successful investment experiences to date

• Immerse UK’s ’21 to Watch’ – highlighting innovative UK-based, early stage ventures that have received significant private and public sector support and are making a substantial impact in the immersive tech sector

• Investor Survey Data – exploring the results of a survey of 50 UK-based investors  and highlighting their outlooks for investment in the XR sector over the next 12 months.

In the introduction, Dave Haynes Director of Developer Ecosystem & VIVE X EMEA,HTC VIVE, emphasised three of the factors behind the more confident outlook for the sector, after a couple of years in which expectations for the category appeared to have fallen.

First, lockdowns during the pandemic have led to consumers looking to virtual worlds in which to spend more of their leisure time and connect with others.

Workers and employers have also turned to technologies such as VR to collaborate, design together or host and attend virtual events. Whatever the New Normal proves to be, many old habits will be replaced by new practices involving VR/AR to train new skills.

Second, new hardware has emerged which can help both make VR more accessible to the mainstream, but also serve higher-end enthusiasts and business customers.

The ongoing rollout of 5G and increased sophistication of cameras and sensors in smartphones and other devices will unlock new use cases in augmented reality.

Third, the immersive tech ecosystem has matured. The quantity, quality and distribution of consumer content has increased exponentially, whilst startups selling to enterprises can now do so by showing proven ROI rather than relying on hype.

Download and share report.

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