Data and intelligence firm GrowthEnabler has just published the first UK focused AR and VR market report. It includes an overview of industry trends and performance to date, looking at both funding and revenue within the VR sector.
Funding
2016 has already witnessed a cumulative rise in AR/VR funding by 85% from 2015. At the current run rate, deal volume this year will grow by 11% over last year’s total. Of the total funding of approximately US$2.9 billion raised globally, the US grabs the highest share of the investments at 70% and the UK comes in as a distant second at 5%.
Among the AR/VR companies that raised the highest amount of funding till date, UK-based Blippar raised the 4th highest funding at a total of US$99 million. Over US$103 million has been pumped into the UK AR market and Blippar is responsible for 96% of that.
Approximately US$43 million has been invested in the UK VR market and the top funded companies include Improbable and nDreams. Globally, the AR/VR hardware companies received the highest amount of funding as yet at US$1211 million. The top categories that saw the most number of deals till date are AR/VR companies focusing on commercial and industrial applications, infrastructure and tools, and the content.
The industry is in a nascent stage and we have seen 75% of the total investment in Seed and Series A rounds. This trend is expected to change as more companies will be reaching mature stage and raising significant amounts.
Revenue
The report also shows the AR market at a much higher trajectory than the VR market and the former is very likely to outrun the latter by US$60 billion in the next four years. The market for AR in 2022 is expected to reach US$117 billion as compared to US$34 billion of VR.
In 2015, the revenue from VR videogames was $660 million and this number is projected at $6.9 billion in 2020 and $11.6 billion in 2025. Most of the revenue in AR is expected to come through sale of hardware, which is expected to reach $42 billion by 2020.
Growth Enabler concludes that “VR is the hare, AR is the tortoise and we all know who wins the race.”
For more detail and insight from the AR&VR Market Pulse Report, please visit www.growthenabler.com
