A Map of The Virtual Reality (VR) Market

VR is reported to be a big future market. I wanted to get a better understanding of all of the different players and how the whole ecosystem fits together.

Here is a map of the virtual reality ecosystem I created for myself, hopefully its helpful for others.

Below is a breakdown of each category:

- I focused mainly on VR not AR (ex. Magic Leap)
- I have included more companies below than listed on the graphic above.
- I am biased towards startups in the space and/or companies that have raised funding.
- If I am missing something tweet me @mccannatron
- This space is developing quickly so take this into consideration.

Observations/Questions
After looking into this market there are a few big open ended questions which I observed. It will be interesting to see how each play out over the next few years.

• What is the killer app / use-case that really drives the adoption of VR devices? Today it is estimated that 175,000 Oculus units have been sold (dev kits) and 1,000,000 Google Cardboard units have been shipped (although I'd imagine very few of the cardboard units are used on a regular basis)
• Will business be the main adopter of VR or will consumers drive adoption. Highly depends on which is the killer app and this is still very much to be decided. For example VisiCalc and spreadsheets played a critical role in the adoption of the Personal Computer - not games/consumer applications.
• Will VR headsets or mobile VR headsets have a larger install base, which platforms should developers be building for? 

Devices

• Oculus VR?—?Bought by facebook for $2B
• HTC Vive?—?partnered with Valve also creating the Steam VR platform.
• Sony’s Project Morpheus?—?VR system by Sony, will also be connected to the PS4 VR Platform
• Samsung’s Gear VR
• Google Cardboard?—?Low end VR system using your smartphone.
• StarVR?—?headset with an ultra-wide field of view
• Visbox?—?Cave VR system (VR within whole room)
• Fove?—?developing an eye tracking virtual reality headset?—?Raised an unreported amount, announced on June 25, 2015
• Sulon Technologies- combines both VR and AR in one device- No funding reported yet, won top heads up display in CES.

Controllers

• Virtuix Omni?—?Treadmill for VR, used with Oculus?—?Raised $7M, announced on December 10th, 2014
• Nod Labs?—?controller and tracking device for VR?—?$16M announced on June 17, 2015
• virZOOM?—?turns a stationary bike into VR controller?—?Raised $1.83M announced on April 16, 2015
• Leap Motion?—?motion control for VR?—?Raised $44M, announced on January 3, 2013.
• Oculus Touch?—?Made by Oculus
• Sixense?—?wireless motion tracking controller?—?Raised $600K on Kickstarter on October 12, 2013
• Valve Controllers?—?Made by Valve for the HTC Vive
• Cyberith?—?VR controller that lets you run, jump, rotate, and crouch?—?no funding reported yet.
• Tactical Haptics?—?produces the Reactive Grip Motion Controller- no funding reported yet.
• ControlVR?—?Lets you control using your hands and motion instead of keyboard?—?Raised $400K on Kickstarter, announced on July 5, 2014
• Pebbles Interfaces— Develops hand-tracking technologies?—?Raised $11.5M, Announced on August 1st, 2013. Recently bought by Oculus.

Cameras / 3D Mapping

• Jaunt VR?—?professional grade camera system for capturing VR experiences?—?Raised $35M, announced on August 21st, 2014
• Otoy?—?Full pipeline for creating, rendering, and streaming 3D environments. Amount raised unreported from Yuri Milner and Autodesk - advisors include Eric Schmidt, Ari Emanuel, and more
• Structure.io?—?capture the 3D world via smartphone?—?Raised $8M, announced on October 20th, 2013
• hover.to?—?create 3D models from your smartphone?—?Raised $12.7M announced on August 7, 2014
• Kolor?—?Create 3D words from 2D images and videos?—?Bought by GoPro
• VideoStitch?—?VideoStitch develops video stitching software to create Live Virtual Reality Video content.?—?Raised $2.25M seed
• Matterport?—?Reconstruct real world spaces in VR?—?Raised $58.3M, announced on June 25, 2015
• Panorics?—?develops fully immersive 360-degree video technology and products?—?Raised an unreported amount of funding.

Developer Tools

• Unity?—?Development platform, supporting VR development.
• Unreal Engine?—?Game development platform, supporting VR.
• WorldViz— Produces Vizard VR toolkit?—?Raised $3.5M announced on April 14th, 2015
• GameWorks VR?—?Developer platform by NVIDIA
• OSVR?—?open sourced hardware and software platform for VR
• High Fidelity?—?Open sourced software for deploying VR spaces?—?Raised $16M announced on February 11, 2015 (founded by Philip Rosedale who started Second Life)

Content (Producing VR experiences/games)

• Game studios developing games for VR?—?Insomniac Games, Ubisoft, CCP, Gunfire games, 4A Games, Carbon Games, Climax, Harmonix, High Voltage Software, Ready at Dawn, Otherworld Interactive, and Square Enix, Thotwise
• Here is a long list of games that or will be compatible with VR.
• Reload Studios?—?is an independent game studio developing VR games?—?$2M on June 3, 2015
• nDreams?—?Game developer specializing in VR?—?Raised $2.75M, announced on January 19th, 2015
• Visionary VR?—?a technology and content development studio?—?Raised $350K announced on March 4th, 2015
• NextVR?—?captures and delivers live and on-demand virtual reality experiences (concerts, movies, sports)?—?Raised $5M, announced on September 9th, 2014
• The VR Company?—?Studio producing experiences, Steven Spielberg is an advisor?—?Raised $2.1M announced on May 29, 2015.
• VRse?—?Producers of VR content for filmmaking
• Livelike VR?—?VR production focused on live sports content?—?Raised $200,000 announced on January 27, 2015
• spaceVR?—?Experience what space flight feels like (sounds pretty cool).
• Felix & Paul Studios?—?developing VR content and content tied to Hollywood blockbusters

Social network / Content platforms

• Littlstar?—?aggregates virtual reality content?—?Raised $120K announced on July 9, 2015
• Wear VR?—?content platform and app store for VR experiences?—?Raised $1.5M announced on April 8, 2015
• AltspaceVR?—?Experience things on the web (shows, concerts, movies) in VR with other people?—?Raised $5.2M announced on September 14th, 2014
• Vrideo?—?Youtube like network for VR experiences?—?Raised seed round, unreported.
• EmergentVR?—?User generated content of VR?—?Raised unreported amount on January 21, 2015

Education

• Woofbert?—?providing art-education through VR?—?$2.78M on June 1st, 2015
• zspace?—?VR for STEM education?—?Raised $26.6M announced on March 19th, 2015
• Discovr?—?exploring ancient worlds through VR?—?No funding reported
• drashvr?—?Produces educational VR apps?—?No funding reported

Medical

• Psious?—?uses virtual environments to treat anxiety disorders?—?No reported funding
• Deepstream VR— using VR games for rehabilitation and treating pain?—?No reported funding
• MindMaze?—?developing VR experiences for medical recovery (ex. post-stroke)?—?Raised $8.5 announced on March 4, 2015
• Vivid Vision?—?designing games to correct amblyopia (lazy eye) as well as strabismus (crossed eye) in virtual reality?—?Raised $50K, announced on January 21, 2014

Business / Enterprise tools

• insiteVR?—?Designer tools within VR?—?Raised $120,000 from YCombinator, announced on March 15th, 2015
• IrisVR?—?3D modeling tools within VR?—?Raised $2.53M, announced on July 8, 2015
• SDK Lab?—?Create VR experiences for employee training (mining, drilling, etc)?—?No reported funding.
• Inreal Technologies?—?VR tools for architects?—?Raised seed round, unreported.
• Autodesk?—?Also experimenting with VR tools and experiences for manufacturing, real estate, etc.