Helsinki-based VR headset technology company Varjo announced today that it has completed a $31 million Series B funding led by Atomico. New investors Next47 and existing investors EQT Ventures and Lifeline Ventures also participated. It is reported that they will use this funding to bring the world's first "human-eye resolution" VR/MR product to the market, primarily targeting industrial use cases such as simulation and training, architecture, automotive, aviation, manufacturing, and design.
So far, the cumulative funding of this Helsinki-based startup has reached $46 million. Varjo will use this funding to expand its hardware and software teams, increasing their workforce to over 200 employees in the next 12 months, and for the global launch and sales of their first product.
Varjo co-founder and CEO Urko Konttori said, "We hope that our hardware and software platforms can have as profound an impact as the graphical user interface. At Varjo, we are committed to ushering in a new era of immersive computing for professionals." In addition, Varjo has partnered with companies such as Airbus, Audi, Lilium, Saab, Siemens, Volkswagen, and Volvo to optimize their headsets for their respective business units and needs.
Niklas Zennström, CEO of Atomico, pointed out, "Currently, VR devices on the market can only achieve a small fraction of the resolution of the human eye. Before we met Varjo's founding team and experienced their high-quality products ourselves, we believed that it would take at least 10 more years for VR to truly help professionals."
Jan Pflueger from Audi said, "Making decisions is a daily challenge in the product development process. Supporting virtual development means providing the highest level of usable quality to make reliable decisions. Varjo's technology is convincing and can help us reduce the existing gap in our development cycle and accelerate progress."
Varjo plans to release their VR headset in Q4 2018 and intends to offer AR/XR accessories in the first half of 2019. It is worth mentioning that the company's current prototype device offers an effective resolution of 50 million pixels per eye.