Few sectors in tech were as hyped as augmented reality and virtual reality in 2015, and the funding numbers continue to bear out the excitement. Overall, AR/VR startups raised a total of $658M in equity financing in 2015, across 126 deals.
Q4’15 topped the previous all-time high in quarterly deal activity hit in the prior quarter. There were 43 deals in Q4’15, which raised a total of $238M.
That was the second-highest funding total of all time, lagging only Q4’14 (though that quarter was largely made up of Magic Leap’s $542M Series B).
Notable deals in Q4’15 included financings of Asian VR startups ANTVR ($46M Series B) and DeePoon VR ($30M Series B), as well as NextVR’s $30.5M Series A.
While AR/VR startups continue to garner a lot of media headlines and hype, the industry is still very much in its infancy, with nearly 75% of all deals coming at the early-stage (Angel – Series A).
We expect the funding and activity highs to continue throughout 2016, thanks to the flurry of recent and announced consumer launches, including mobile-based solutions like the Samsung Gear VR launched in late 2015 and the announced launch of the Facebook-owned Oculus Rift VR headset later this year.
Image credit: Nan Palmero // Flickr
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