In the early morning of June 11, Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC2024) announced that Vision Pro will start pre-orders on June 14 in Asia-Pacific markets such as China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore. Since its release in the United States in February, this product has been recognized as a brand-new product that opens the era of spatial computing.
However, even Apple has not revived the VR industry so far. Recently, statistics from the research institution CINNO Research show that China's XR market is not optimistic in the first quarter of 2024, and China's consumer VR market has sold 98,000 units, down 6% year-on-year.
VR head-mounted displays (hereinafter referred to as "head-mounted displays") have always been the mainstream in the development of VR devices, and the VR head-mounted display market always seems to be leaning towards the consumer end. Surprisingly, Varjo, a new start-up company born in Finland, a small but beautiful country, has only focused on the B-side professional market from the beginning. "Creating human eye-level resolution" is its consistent pursuit.
It is under such rigorous, professional and cutting-edge technical requirements that Varjo can stand out among the head display manufacturers and become a cooperation object of many official organizations and world-famous companies.
One-minute project overview
1. Project name: Varjo
2. Date of establishment: 2016
3. Product introduction:
Varjo mainly produces virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) head-mounted displays and software. Its products are mainly used in automotive, aerospace, training, simulation, engineering and research and other fields.
4. Founder team:
- CEO: Timo Toikkanen
- CTO: Urho Konttori
- CXO: Niko Eiden
5. Financing situation:
- Varjo completed a Series A round of financing led by EQT Ventures in September 2017, amounting to US$8.2 million; in December of the same year, Varjo received an additional US$6.7 million in investment from Tekes, a Finnish business development group;
- In October 2018, Varjo announced the completion of a $31 million Series B round of financing, led by Atomico, with participation from Next47, EQT Ventures and Lifeline Ventures;
- On August 12, 2020, Varjo completed a Series C financing of up to US$54 million;
- In September 2022, Varjo announced that it had raised US$40 million in Series D financing, bringing its total financing to US$160 million.
Accurately locate "selling points + customers"
Varjo was founded with the mission of changing XR/VR, computing, and the world. The founding team wants to create the next generation of computing and hopes to help people achieve the impossible by blending virtual reality and traditional reality.
Varjo CEO Timo Toikkanen said in an interview,
"Twenty-five percent of the world's Fortune 100 companies trust Varjo, and we've transformed workflows for thousands of industry leaders in many fields."
The reason why Varjo products are favored by many high-end enterprises is because in terms of products, Varjo pursues excellent resolution and image quality, and is committed to providing high-resolution, high-fidelity and high-performance XR/VR to corporate customers. Head display products.
Generally speaking, when making a VR headset, you also need to consider objective factors such as product comfort and industry trends. However, Varjo chose to spend most of his energy on how to improve resolution, that is, how to create a visual experience that is close to the actual human eye. There are compelling reasons for this seemingly desperate move.
In fact, the reason is very simple. Varjo has seen huge demand for virtual and mixed reality applications in some precision technology industries since its early days. To help these enterprises achieve immersive and remote collaboration, the company is committed to developing the world's most advanced head-mounted display devices and service solutions.
Varjo headsets bring unprecedented clarity to the 3D models, projects or simulations your business needs. Whether you're conducting complex training and simulations, or working with architectural or 3D design models, CAD files, and more, everything is presented faithfully and clearly.
Relying on the great advantages of product resolution technology, Varjo also cooperates closely with famous companies such as NVIDIA, Lenovo, Unreal Engine, Unity, Autodesk, etc. to provide customers with more High-end products and technologies.
Demand-oriented product range
Varjo XR-4 Series: Mixed reality headsets for professionals
Varjo XR-4 is the latest high-end mixed reality head-mounted display device launched by Varjo Company, which combines top VR and AR technologies.
The Varjo team has worked closely with automotive designers, pilots, and medical experts on multiple occasions to understand their specific needs and challenges when using VR/AR technology. Through these collaborations, Varjo identified high-resolution displays, precise eye tracking and environmental awareness as key factors to enhance the user experience.
Subsequently, the design team continued to optimize various parameters of the product, striving to find the best balance between performance and comfort. Eventually, the XR-4 series was born.
XR-4 is equipped with an ultra-high-resolution Micro-OLED display that provides human-eye-level visual clarity, allowing users to see detailed images and text. Its refresh rate is 90Hz, ensuring a smooth visual experience.
In addition, XR-4 is equipped with advanced eye tracking technology, which can track the user's eye movements in real time, achieving more natural and accurate interaction. In terms of comfort, the XR-4 adopts a lightweight design, which enhances the stability and comfort of wearing and is suitable for long-term use.
These features of the Varjo XR-4 Series headsets play an important role in industrial applications, where simulated maintenance training is becoming a new way to complement traditional hands-on training methods.
Varjo Reality Cloud: Streaming a realistic metaverse
Varjo Reality Cloud is a cloud rendering service launched by Varjo. It aims to move high-performance computing and graphics rendering capabilities to the cloud, allowing users to enjoy top-notch VR and AR experiences through lower-configuration devices.
While major head-mounted display manufacturers were scrimping on performance, the Varjo team realized that many users were unable to enjoy a high-quality VR/AR experience due to device performance limitations.
Driven by actual demand, Varjo decided to develop a service that can complete high-performance rendering in the cloud, breaking through hardware limitations and allowing more users to experience top-notch virtual reality effects.
After multiple technical iterations and optimizations, Reality Cloud finally came out, becoming the first solution on the market to introduce high-resolution cloud rendering into the VR/AR field.
Reality Cloud’s key capabilities include:
- Cloud streaming service : Varjo Reality Cloud allows users to deploy VR/MR applications and experiences from the cloud and stream human-eye resolution XR content directly to Varjo headsets.
- High-Resolution Delivery : Varjo's proprietary center-point delivery algorithm allows users to stream immersive content from the Varjo Reality Cloud to VR/XR devices at bandwidths as low as 35 megabits per second.
- Cross-device collaboration : Varjo Reality Cloud supports multiple devices, including Varjo devices, 2D computer monitors, iOS devices, Valve Index and Meta Quest headsets.
Varjo Reality Cloud has demonstrated its excellent application results in multiple industries.
- In the field of design and manufacturing, designers and engineers can create and evaluate virtual prototypes through Reality Cloud without relying on high-performance local hardware, significantly reducing costs.
- In the field of education and training, teachers and students can remotely enter the same virtual classroom to interact, improving teaching effectiveness and participation.
- Applications in the medical field include remote surgical guidance and medical training. Through Reality Cloud, doctors can collaborate and communicate instantly in different locations.
Varjo’s “differentiated play” and vision
Technological development continues to promote the development of headsets, and Varjo has become a "front wave" in the industry with its innovative VR and MR technologies.
As mentioned earlier, with the success of US$40 million in Series D financing, Varjo’s valuation has reached US$160 million. This "huge amount of financing" is not only the recognition of Varjo's technical strength by all investors, but also a strong support for future product research and development and technological innovation.
Back to Varjo itself, it has many competitors in the VR/MR headset market. Oculus, HTC Vive, Microsoft HoloLens, etc. all have a place with their mature products and broad market influence.
Varjo’s come from behind relies on differentiation. Whether it is "human eye resolution" MR headsets or precise eye tracking technology, they provide a new immersive experience. The application of this technology in astronaut and pilot training, automotive design, product development and other fields has earned Varjo a unique market positioning.
As far as the industry itself is concerned, with the acceleration of global digital transformation, especially the popularity of remote working during the epidemic, the demand for virtual and mixed reality technologies is growing. The Varjo device's realistic resolution and precise integration of eye-tracking technology perfectly cater to the B-side market's demand for high-quality immersive experiences.
In addition, Varjo has more than 35 certified dealers in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Its global business and dealer network have expanded to more than 40 countries, demonstrating the internationalization and influence of the market.
Varjo’s future plans are grand and clear
Its CEO Timo Toikkanen once said:
“The vision of creating lifelike virtual worlds for professionals is coming true, and we’re proud to be the first and only company in the world that continues to deliver high-resolution virtual and XR technology to the largest and most iconic companies. .
Ted Persson, a partner at EQT Ventures and a member of Varjo’s board of directors, also said this in an interview.
"Varjo has embarked on a new phase, expanding its suite of highly immersive virtual and mixed reality products across enterprise verticals. For professionals, this is a game-changer that could pave the way to a Metaverse-like future. Varjo will transform work and collaboration."
Varjo's story continues, and the cooperation of "funding + technology" will continue to support Varjo in bringing people a richer and more realistic immersive experience.
