VR Enabling Software and Augmented Reality Lead Virtual Reality Funding
We’ve previously inspected virtual reality (VR) funding trends and observed that its funding in the first half of 2018 was down versus the last two years. Now we are performing a deeper examination on our VR research platform to compare funding by category. Our analysis reveals two key takeaways:
- The VR Enabling Software category leads the sector in Q2 funding
- The Augmented Reality category leads the sector in all-time funding
We’ll highlight these takeaways with some graphics and discussions below.
The VR Enabling Software Category Leads Virtual Reality In Q2 Funding
To start off, let’s review the amount of funding raised this quarter by each category within VR.
Virtual Reality Latest Quarter Category Funding
The above graphic shows that the VR Enabling Software category leads the sector in Q2 funding with $59M. Its funding is 1.4 times the funding of the next two categories, Augmented Reality and VR Consumption Hardware at $41M each.
VR Enabling Software companies produce software to facilitate the development or functioning of VR products. Examples include VR media player software, video processing platforms, and VR development toolkits. Some example companies in this category include Neurable, Nomadic, Nurulize, and Visbit.
Let’s now investigate how these categories’ funding compare with each other historically.
The Augmented Reality Category Leads the Sector in All-Time Funding
The graph below shows the all-time funding for different VR categories. The Q2 funding and growth rates of these categories are also highlighted.
Virtual Reality Total Category Funding
The bar graph indicates that the Augmented Reality category leads the sector in total funding at $3.5B. This is 1.7 times the funding of the next category, VR Consumption Hardware at $2B.
Augmented Reality companies superimpose a computer-generated environment on the real world. Their products include AR headsets, AR social games, and AR surgery simulations. Some example companies in this category are Lumus, WayRay, Meta, and Blue Vision Labs.
Conclusion
The VR Enabling Software category leads virtual reality in Q2 funding. In addition, the Augmented Reality category leads the sector in all-time funding.
To learn more about our complete virtual reality report and research platform, visit us at www.venturescanner.com or contact us at [email protected].