Oculus VR $16m closer to making virtual reality, a reality
The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, a device which provides a stereoscopic 3D gaming experience with a huge field of view, is one step closer to an official launch due to a venture capital funding providing $16m in investments.
Oculus VR Inc., in partnership with Spark Capital and Matrix Partners, closed this round of funding with the capital necessary to accelerate the production of the virtual reality hardware, software and servicing costs.
After the prototype of Oculus Rift debuted at E3 2012, developer kits were sent to games developers across the world in order to have games and activities for the tech to run.
Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus VR and inventor of the Oculus Rift, said: “Oculus began with a single mission: to put players inside the game.
“This investment allows us to deliver immersive and affordable virtual reality to players everywhere.”
Antonio Rodriguez, general partner at Matrix, said: “In this business, there are only a few rare companies that can so perfectly embody the future you read about in science fiction novels.
“What Palmer, Brendan and the team are building at Oculus so closely matches the Metaverse, we had to be part of it. Working with them to get this platform to market at scale will be enormously exciting.”
Santo Politi, founder and general partner at Spark, said: “With the recent console announcements and the advent of stronger mobile technology, we’re watching the video game industry keenly.
“In our estimation, Oculus is one of the only companies in the space with something completely new and disruptive. They have the right team, capital and vision to take virtual reality beyond console gaming and into everyday computing.”
Oculus VR Inc. has had previous fundraising success after it raised over $2.4m through its Kickstarter campaign, more than ten times its fundraising goal.
No date has been set for commercial release.