Europe’s virtual reality economy continues to expand at a remarkable pace despite some overall skepticism about the technology, according to the second European Virtual Reality landscape released by The Venture Reality Fund and Belgium’s LucidWeb.
The report identified 487 virtual reality companies operating in Europe, up from the 300 uncovered in the first report, which was released in February.
The companies are spread across the continent, but some hubs have started to emerge. The study identified 46 VR companies in the U.K. and 29 in France. Sweden (19) jumped ahead of Germany (15) in this round.
“The VR industry continues to grow, and next to the United Kingdom and France, Sweden has now caught up in terms of the number of high-performing startups across the VR industry,” said Leen Segers, cofounder and CEO of LucidWeb.
Silicon Valley-based venture firm The Venture Reality Fund has long measured investments in the augmented reality and VR markets. But earlier this year, it teamed up with LucidWeb to begin producing the semi-annual report.
The study includes VR companies that are making infrastructure, tools, platforms, and apps. The study noted that investment was on the rise in enterprise-related VR technologies but remained cooler for areas like health care and education.
Other notable findings:
● Gaming remains the most crowded and competitive category.
● User Input, which focuses on interactions in VR by brain, body, eyes, and feet, seems to be one of the fastest growing. This included a $23 million round raised by U.K.-based Ultrahaptics.
● Companies making 3D tools raised the most money. But then, this category included U.K.-based Improbable, which raised a $500 million round in May.
● The report added a new category: advertising. Sad, but inevitable, we suppose.
Source: Europe’s virtual reality sector has grown to nearly 487 companies
