VR/XR Hardware And Software Company Varjo Closes $54 Million

By Dan Anderson ● Aug 14, 2020
  • Varjo — the leader in industrial-grade VR/XR hardware and software — announced that it has raised $54 million in Series C funding

Varjo — the leader in industrial-grade VR/XR hardware and software — announced that it has raised $54 million in Series C funding. Tesi, NordicNinja, and Swisscanto Invest by Zürcher Kantonalbank are among the new investors contributing to the round in addition to follow-on investment participation from existing investors including Lifeline Ventures, Atomico, EQT Ventures, and Volvo Cars Tech Fund.

Varjo is known as the first and only company in the world to deliver human-eye resolution virtual and mixed reality devices to meet the most demanding enterprise applications across training and simulation, design and engineering, and research.

Cars, Boeing, Audi, and Siemens use the company’s XR-1 Developer Edition, VR-2, and VR-2 Pro devices to conduct immersive astronaut and pilot training, design the cars of the future, streamline product development, etc.

The company also announced the appointment of Timo Toikkanen (previously president and COO of Varjo) as the new CEO. And co-founder and previous CEO Niko Eiden will continue to drive the company’s technological innovations as CXO and a board member.

Including this funding round, Varjo has raised just over $100 million to date — which will enable Varjo to accelerate its global expansion and development of industry-leading hardware and software products.

This round of funding comes on the heels of a year marked by company success and product innovation. Some of the company’s recent milestones include expansion of the company’s global operations and reseller network to over 40 countries in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific with the launch of sales and direct shipping to key markets including Singapore, Israel, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

Varjo also reported strong quarter-over-quarter customer growth with new customer acquisition of visionary enterprise companies including Boeing Starliner, Siemens, KIA, and Lockheed Martin. And Varjo signed a commercial partnership with MeetinVR to deliver photorealistic virtual collaboration, a much-needed solution for users to be able to collaborate remotely with colleagues, customers, and partners around the world in an immersive and realistic environment.

KEY QUOTES:

“We are seeing tremendous demand for virtual and mixed reality use cases, particularly as much of the world continues to work remotely. When you combine the photorealistic resolution and accurate, integrated eye tracking found in our devices with the broad software compatibility we offer, the possibilities for creating, training and running research in immersive environments are endless. With support from our growing group of investors, we look forward to scaling our operations and delivering the cutting-edge technology our customers need to transform the way they work.”

— Timo Toikkanen, CEO of Varjo

“Varjo has established itself as a proven industry leader, as evidenced by its ability to continually push the boundaries of virtual and mixed reality and support the most demanding enterprise applications across industries. With their history of breathtaking product innovation, a strong and experienced team and increasing market demand, we are excited to be on board on their journey of revolutionizing computing for all.”

— Keith Bonnici, Investment Director at Tesi

“We were early seed investors in Varjo and believed in their vision for how immersive computing could transform the way professionals work from the very beginning. In less than four years, Varjo has delivered both industry-leading hardware and software to the market. We are thrilled to be participating in this latest funding round as the company continues to scale and deliver an ecosystem capable of bringing enterprise XR adoption mainstream.”

— Petteri Koponen, founding partner at Lifeline Ventures and Varjo’s chairman of the board