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Category: Other news

VR Education nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year Ireland

Posted on by shardadmin

The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year programme passionately believes in promoting entrepreneurship and empowering entrepreneurs to grow their businesses in Ireland, Northern Ireland and around the world.

Founders of Suir Valley Ventures first investee company VR Education, David and Sandra Whelan have been nominated for Entrepreneur/s of the Year 2018 in the Emerging Category.  This category covers businesses that have been trading for a minimum of 2 years and that a ‘high-potential’, dynamic, resourceful and future companies ‘to watch’.

Hear from David and Sandra on their journey from inception to success and their relationship with mentor and Managing Partner of Suir Valley Ventures, Barry Downes. https://bit.ly/2L2h60s

Immotion Group IPO as interest in VR continues to skyrocket

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Sure Ventures backed Immotion Group have today listed on AIM after announcing their intent to list officially last week. Immotion Group are striving to become the market leader in ‘out of home’ entertainment, combining best in class Virtual Reality with cutting edge motion platforms to create a unique, fully immersive entertainment experience. The state of the art experiences will be offered to consumers in leisure destinations such as shopping centres and family entertainment centres.

Immotion Group was the first direct investment by the entrepreneur led Venture Capital firm, Sure Ventures in April 2018 who specialise in AR, VR and IoT and is led by Chief Investment Officer, Barry Downes.

Speaking of the IPO, Barry Downes commented “As we know, the VR and AR space is booming, and the market is forecast to grow significantly over the next few years. Immotion Group are pioneers in the industry and, with their unique immersive experience, they’re set to fully transform family, out of home entertainment. The team behind Immotion are a group of true innovators and we don’t see anything slowing them down.”

The full operation of Immotion Group incorporates three key areas – Content Creation, Motion Platforms and Proprietary Content Management Systems which allows the company to continue to evolve and offer fresh, high quality content. Within their content creation, Immotion’s subsidiaries, ‘Studios’ and ‘C2K’ have over 20 years of expertise in computer generated animation. Their historic clients include BBC, Toyota and Warner Brothers.

The unique cinema pod motion platforms from Immotion have been developed in exclusive partnership with a Chinese manufacturer which has enabled Immotion to optimise their hardware design and functionality. Whilst their bespoke Content Management System allows the group to analyse experience statistics on each machine in real time in addition to distributing content.

For investors, the revenue model for Immotion has four key channels to market. 1) Motion Platform Sales which will see distribution throughout Europe, North America and the Middle East. 2) Immotion VR, which Immotion will own and operate platforms in shopping malls and high footfall locations, consumers will pay a small fee for the experience. 3) Concessions, through partnership opportunities with high traffic leisure destination partners. VR content will be tailored to suit the location and revenue will be shared with the concession partner. 4) Turnkey & Commercial Solutions which will see Immotion continue to offer immersive solutions for commercial clients as well as larger turnkey VR solutions.

Speaking of the IPO, Rob Wiegold from Shard Capital Stockbrokers said “This is a very interesting sector and we feel Immotion have the right management team in place to drive this model forward. There has been significant appetite in the IPO from investors and should the company be able to take advantage of their current pipeline, we see it being a very interesting 12-18 months ahead.”

As virtual and augmented realities become more accessible, there’s no surprise that the industry is seeing exponential growth. The VR industry in the UK alone is set to be worth £353.3 million by 2020, up a staggering 390% as the industry was worth just £46.4 million in 2016. Globally, the AR and VR market is set to hit US$547.2 billion by 2024 across software and hardware technologies.[1]

For more information on Immotion Group, please contact Shard Capital Stockbrokers on 0207 186 9950 / scsb@shardcapital.com

 

Sources

  1. Transparency Market Research. 2018. Global Virtual and Augmented Reality Market: Snapshot. [ONLINE] Available at https://www.transperancymarketresearch.com/virtual-augmented-reality-market.html. [Accessed 5 July 2018].

 

Important Investment Information: The views above are published solely for information purposes and are not to be construed as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any securities, or related financial instruments. It does not constitute advice or a personal recommendation as defined by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) or take into account the particular investment objectives, financial situations or needs of individual investors. These views are based on public information and sources considered reliable. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Yields are variable and not guaranteed. Investments can fall as well as rise, therefore you could get back less than you invest. If you are unsure about the appropriateness of an investment for your circumstances please seek independent financial advice. Investors should form their own view on any proposed investment. This publication has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and is considered a marketing communication. Figures correct as at 5 July 2018 unless otherwise stated. This publication is issued by Shard Capital Partners LLP, 20 Fenchurch Street, London, EC3M 3BY United Kingdom who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Immotion Group PLC – Admission and First Day of Dealings. Placing to raise £5.75 million

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Immotion Group Plc (“Immotion Group” or the “Group”), the UK-based immersive virtual reality (“VR”) ‘Out of Home’ entertainment business, is pleased to announce that the Admission and trading of its Ordinary Shares will take place today at 8.00am on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (“AIM”). The Company will be trading under the ticker symbol IMMO.

 

Highlights

·      £5.75 million gross proceeds raised through the placing of 57,500,000 new Ordinary Shares at 10p per share, in a significantly oversubscribed placing through WH Ireland Ltd and Shard Capital Partners LLP – the number of ordinary shares in issue will be 195,351,590

·      Upon Admission, the Group will have a market capitalisation (at the Placing price of 10p per Ordinary Share) of approximately £19.54m

·      Funds will be used to implement Immotion Group’s strategy to become a leading participant in the ‘Out of Home’ VR experience market by creating and publishing high quality VR content and combining it with its VR motion platforms to create truly immersive experiences

·      The ‘Out of Home’ VR experience market is forecast to grow eight-fold to $8bn by 2022

·      Immotion generates revenues through the delivery of high quality “state of the art” VR experiences, combined with cutting edge motion platforms to consumers at an affordable price point through a range of routes:

Sales – sale of VR Motion Platforms to Leisure and Entertainment operators provide the opportunity for the operator to drive substantial ancillary revenues
Concession partners – currently installed at Merlin Entertainments’ Lego Discovery Center in Boston, USA and Genting Resorts World in Birmingham, with further sites under agreement – this channel provides an opportunity for its partners to earn ancillary revenues, as well as providing an exciting additional attraction to their facilities
Owned and franchised outlets, trading as Immotion VR, located in high footfall shopping centres – first retail store in Bristol (opened in December) has seen growing revenues, and has enjoyed 100% 5* reviews on TripAdvisor
·      “Create, Publish and Distribute” model – Immotion Group’s award winning creative studios are creating exciting VR content for its motion platforms, published using its proprietary Content Management System

·      Established by Martin Higginson and David Marks, two highly experienced technology and media entrepreneurs, with Sir Robin Miller as Chairman

Martin Higginson, Chief Executive Officer of Immotion Group, said: “In combining award-winning storytelling, CGI production and precise motion synchronisation, Immotion Group can deliver experiences that are not easily replicable in the ‘in home’ market. We have already experienced a very positive reaction from consumers, many of whom are trying VR for the first time, and from business partners who see the strong potential for our VR platforms to provide a new revenue opportunity.

“The five star reviews received from our retail customers, along with the early sales of motion platforms and a successful launch experienced by our Concession Partner, Merlin Entertainments’ Lego Discovery Center in Boston, have given us confidence in the market and our strategy to deliver on the opportunity. We believe that this IPO will enable us to build momentum and achieve our goal to build the business across the UK, Europe and USA in what is an exciting, fast growing market.”

To view the Company’s Admission Document, please visit: https://immotion.co.uk/

 

Enquiries:

Immotion Group

Martin Higginson

Tel: +44 (0) 161 235 8505

 

WH Ireland Limited (Nomad and Joint Broker)

Adrian Hadden

Jessica Cave

Tel: +44 (0) 207 220 1666

 

Shard Capital Partners LLP (Joint Broker)

Damon Heath

Erik Woolgar

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7186 9900

 

Redleaf Communications (Financial PR)

Elisabeth Cowell

Robin Tozer

Ian Silvera

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3757 6880

Immotion@redleafpr.com

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

“VRE’s commitment to education through VR has built the framework for their success.”

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VR Education Holdings last week announced a release of Titanic part 2 – one of the company’s showcase experiences, expected August 2018.
The immersive VR experience places users on the world’s most famous ship on the night of the sinking, allowing them to experience the tragic events that lead to the Titanic’s historic sinking. The VR Education experience also allows users to deep dive around the shipwreck as she looks today. Titanic 2 by VR Education will be released on PC, Oculus Rift, HTC vibe and Windows Mixed Reality with a later version to be released on PlayStation VR.

Speaking about the announcement, David Whelan, CEO of VR Education said, “We are delighted with our development progress on Part 2 of Titanic VR and feel we are about to reignite the public’s imagination when it comes to the historic events around the sinking of this world-famous ship. We want to ensure that this experience is the best it can be and this short additional time will allow us to finesse some of the final details that will turn Titanic VR from a great experience to an exceptional one.”

Along with news, VR Education have also announced that its project produced in conjunction with the BBC, titled 1943: Berlin Blitz will be released in Q3 of this year. The most fearless World War II report brings to life the events inside a Lancaster bombing during one of the most well documented missions of World War II and uses original cockpit audio recorded 75 years ago.

Head of Stockbroking at Shard Capital, Gareth Burchell also commented, “VR Education are moving from strength to strength. Their unique educational VR experiences are attracting interest from across the world and their commitment to education through VR has built the framework for their success.”

Ready, set, mass adoption? Virtual Reality full steam ahead

Posted on by shardadmin

In today’s world, Virtual Reality is something you can’t escape. For a long time, we siloed experiences such as VR to gaming, however now everyday people are engaging with VR in their everyday lives. In gaming, travel, real estate and healthcare we are seeing the introduction and revolutionising of VR technologies and before too long, we can expect to see mass adoption.

 

Last week leading Virtual Reality game developer Immotion Group received an additional £500,000 in investment from Venture Capital fund Sure Ventures. Immotion create superior out of home immersive VR experiences and will use the £500,000 funds raised to fast-track the roll-out of its product worldwide and create new content. Immotion Group will next month open their first VR gaming arcade just outside of London.

This week, the momentum for VR continues to strive forward with £20mil in fundraising by EVR Holdings. EVR are one of the leading creators in virtual reality content and the holding company of Melody VR. Melody VR officially launched this week at Facebook’s F8 conference and gives users an immersive music experience, allowing fans to watch performances on their VR headsets with content created from previous live performances, sold-out concerts, festivals and special events. Singer Adele is even said to have invested in the company and EVR has already secured partnerships within the industry with Warner Music, Sony Music and Universal Music.

EVR has already raised £70mil to date and the additional funding will be used to further their global expansion outside of the UK and the US. Speaking about the placing, Anthony Matchett, Executive Chairman and CEO of EVR said, “As we move forward, we are confident that a global roll-out of the Melody VR platform will not only serve to supplement and increase the company’s potential revenue generation capabilities but will also serve to increase content consumption, brand awareness and IP value overall.”  EVR is also set to explore additional immersive technologies outside of VR, such as interactive advertising and augmented reality.

In a further nod to VR, earlier this week UK based VR Education’s multi award winning educational experience Apollo 11 was announced as part of the launch collection of the new Oculus Go; the Facebook owned VR headset.  The all new design with built in speakers, optimised graphics and overall superior quality of the Oculus Go, in addition to its attractive £199 RRP is set to accelerate the introduction of immersive VR experiences into homes and lives of people around the world.

Gareth Burchell, Head of Stockbroking at Shard Capital and appointed broker for VR Education commented, “This week’s announcement is amazing recognition to the superior educational experiences VR Education are creating and introducing at all levels.”

The VR Education Apollo 11 announcement reacted very well on the day with the share price hitting a high of 18.9p (Tuesday 2 May) and closing 35% up on the day. VR Education has a market cap of £28mil after its March 12 (2018) listing on the LSE.

 

For more information on Shard Capital or Sure Ventures, please contact us.

VR Education Holdings Plc Apollo 11 VR Mobile App Selected for Oculus Go Launch Collection

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Multiple award-winning Apollo 11 VR educational experience invited by Oculus to feature as part of a special promotional Oculus Go Collection on Oculus store

 

VR Education (AIM: VRE; ESM: 6VR), a leading virtual reality (‘VR’) technology company focused on the education space, is pleased to announce that its award-winning Apollo 11 VR educational experience has been selected to be part of the launch collection for Oculus Go, Oculus’ new all-in-one VR headset.

Oculus Go, which has a recommended retail price of US$199, will allow users to effortlessly enter VR with no PC or wires attached and was launched on 1 May 2018.  VR Education’s Apollo 11 was selected by Oculus as one of the apps for inclusion in the launch collection and will remain available at a reduced price of US$3.99 until 31 August 2018 on the Oculus store.

The Apollo 11 experience was developed by the Group in 2016 and provides users the ability to witness the moon landing first-hand in virtual reality, from the viewpoint of the US astronaut Neil Armstrong.  The Apollo 11 VR experience is currently available on HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR and has been downloaded approximately 120,000 times as at 30 April 2018, generating over €1 million in revenue for the Group.

David Whelan, CEO of VR Education, said: “Since its launch, the Apollo 11 VR experience has won numerous awards and has achieved considerable success on the Oculus store for Oculus Rift users.  The potential market for Apollo 11 is increasing all the time with the cost of hardware still coming down and the launch of the Oculus Go all-in-one headset now means you do not need a PC or smartphone to enjoy a full VR experience.  We are excited to be working with Oculus Go to bring the joys of VR to the mainstream consumer.”

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

 

For further information, please contact:

 

VR Education Holdings plc

David Whelan, CEO

Sandra Whelan, COO

 Tel: +353 87 665 6708

contact@vreducationholdings.com
 

Cairn Financial Advisers LLP

(Nominated Adviser)

James Caithie / Liam Murray / Richard Nash

 Tel: +44 (0) 20 7213 0880

 

Shard Capital Partners LLP

(Joint Broker)

Damon Heath / Erik Woolgar

 Tel: +44 (0) 20 7186 9952
 

Davy

(Joint Broker & ESM Adviser)

Fergal Meegan / Ronan Veale / Barry Murphy

 Tel: +353 1 679 7788
 

Buchanan

(UK Financial PR)

Henry Harrison-Topham / Chris Lane /

Tilly Abraham

 Tel: +44 (0)20 7466 5000

VRE@buchanan.uk.com
 

Wilson Hartnell

(Irish Corporate PR)

Peter O’Brien / Frans Van Cauwelaert

 Tel: +353 1 669 0030

peter.o’brien@ogilvy.com

frans.vancauwelaert@ogilvy.com

 

Notes to Editors

VR Education, together with its wholly owned subsidiary, is an early stage VR software and technology group based in Waterford, Ireland, dedicated to transforming the delivery methods of education and corporate training by utilising VR technologies to deliver fully immersive virtual learning experiences.  The Group’s core focus is the development and commercialisation of its online virtual social learning and presentation platform called ENGAGE, which provides a platform for creating, sharing and delivering proprietary and third-party VR content for educational and corporate training purposes.

In addition to the ongoing development of the ENGAGE platform, the Group has also built two downloadable showcase VR experiences, being the award-winning Apollo 11 VR experience and an early access version of the Group’s Titanic VR experience.

On 12 March 2018, VR Education listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and on the Enterprise Securities Market, a market regulated by Euronext Dublin.

Since its release, the Apollo 11 showcase VR experience has received a number of industry awards:

  • Viveport Developer Awards – 1st Place Explore Category – April 2017
  • Proto Awards, Hollywood – Best Educational Experience – October 2016
  • Unity Vision Summit, Hollywood – Best Film/Interactive Story – February 2016
  • VR Fest, Las Vegas – Best VR Animated Educational Film – January 2016
  • FIVARS, Toronto – Public Choice Award – October 2015
  • Time Warner, New York – Future of Storytelling – September 2015

 

For further information, please visit www.vreducationholdings.com.

 

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

Pixar Animation Studios co-founder, Mr Loren Carpenter appointed advisor to VR Education Holdings

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Suir Valley Ventures first investment, VR Education Holdings has today announced the appointment of Mr. Loren Carpenter, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and Academy Award winner, as an advisor to the company.

 

Speaking about the appointment via the London Stock Exchange, Mr Carpenter said, “I’ve been thoroughly impressed with the meticulous approach VR Education has taken in all of their projects. It’s refreshing to see such attention to detail and I admire how much the company has achieved from its inception, just three years ago.”

Mr Carpenter offers decades of experience to VR Education including being the co-invention of the Reyes rendering algorithm which is used in 3D computer graphics to render photo-realistic images, and as one of the authors of the PhotoRealistic RenderMan, a software used to render all of Pixar’s movies.

David Whelan, CEO of VR Education, said “We are incredibly pleased to have Loren – a luminary of the industry on board. Having grown Pixar from a small company to a multi-billion-dollar business by the time it was acquired by Disney, his advice will be invaluable to VR Education when we take our next steps. As always, our mission remains to provide world class educational platform and experiences to people across the globe and we’re thrilled that now we have Loren to assist us.”

Pixar Studios is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney company and has been a pioneer in computer-generated animated movies. Pixar launched its first feature film in 1995 with the release of their first feature film, Toy Story. Not only was Toy Story the world’s first computer animated feature film, it was also the highest grossing film of the year making over $362 million worldwide. Pixar’s own IPO took place just days later and was the largest IPO of the year.

Head of Stockbroking at Shard Capital, Gareth Burchell, commented, “The appointment of Mr. Loren Carpenter as an advisor is an outstanding sentiment to the potential for VR Education and their VR experiences revolutionising education. We are extremely impressed with their growth and their future ahead.”

 

Sources:

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/VRE/13596086.html

www.pixar.com

Suir Valley Ventures Invests in ProVision, a Leading IoT Fleet Management System

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Suir Valley Ventures, the entrepreneur-led venture capital fund, launched in February 2017, has, together with private investors, invested a combined total of €1,000,000 in ProVision Vehicle Cameras, a leading Internet of Things (‘IoT’) company focused on providing advanced fleet and driver management systems. This is Suir’s fourth investment and follows closely on the heels of investments in an educational VR business, Immersive VR Education, leading IoT cloud platform, Wia, and reality games developer, WarDucks.

ProVision is a world leader in the field of quality video recording capabilities known as CameraMatics. This technology provides remotely accessible IoT solutions to manage and reduce fleet risk, enhance driver safety, increase fleet efficiencies and help operators comply with growing governance and compliance regulations. The technology combines highest quality vehicle camera and tracking technology linked to advanced cloud software, and ProVision’s most advanced products can issue warnings such as flagging driver fatigue, mobile phone use, collision dangers, lane departure and driver distractions, ultimately improving road safety and helping companies with compliance requirements.

ProVision has already installed its systems into hundreds of fleets across the UK and Ireland, comprising thousands of vehicles, and plans to accelerate the roll-out through its partnerships with large fleet operators, leading insurance providers, motor manufacturers, and fleet leasing companies; the investment will enable ProVision to further implement its strategic expansion plans.

As part of the investment, Gareth Burchell, Head of Stockbroking at Shard Capital Stockbrokers, is joining the board of ProVision, bringing with him more than 15 years of experience in the City.

Suir Valley Ventures Managing Partner, Barry Downes, said, “This seed funding will enable ProVision, with its proven technology, to modernise an even greater number of fleets, resulting in increased road safety, compliance with regulations and shielding them from fraudulent claims against drivers. The IoT is an industry with vast potential and ProVision’s unique cloud based software solution provides fleet managers with the most comprehensive end-to-end solution available in the market. It is a privilege to support the ProVision team and we look forward to helping them to take their business to the next level.”

Mervyn O’Callaghan, Managing Director of ProVision, said, “IoT is growing at the speed of light; its total market size is expected to grow to $3.7 billion by 2020 up from $900 million in 2015. ProVision, with its established client base and proven technology, is perfectly placed to capitalise on this flourishing industry. We are delighted with the support that we have received from Suir Valley and our private investors and look forward to gaining an even stronger foothold in the sector.”

ENDS

VR game developer raises €1.3m in Seed funding led by Suir Valley Ventures

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WarDucks, a leading virtual reality (‘VR’) game developer, has secured a seed investment round of €1.3 million led by Suir Valley Ventures, the entrepreneur-led venture capital fund (‘Suir Valley’), with additional funds coming from Enterprise Ireland and private investors. The virtual reality market is expected to grow from GBP £1.4 billion in 2016 to GBP £26.4 billion by 2022, and Suir Valley is eager to increase its exposure to this burgeoning industry, with this injection of capital into WarDucks representing its most recent investment into the virtual reality market.

WarDucks, a studio based in Dublin, designs and develops high quality games and experiences for gamers to play on virtual reality devices. It flagship brand is Sneaky Bears, which, on the Samsung mobile Gear VR platform reached number 24 on the Top Selling Gear VR Charts, and its sequel, Sneaky Bears Rollercoaster reached a number 2 ranking. WarDucks has now launched an expanded and completely new version of Sneaky Bears, a full-length VR game, on the PlayStation VR and Oculus Rift platforms. PlayStation has so far dominated the consumer Console VR market in 2017, with an estimated 1.8 million units sold to date. Sneaky Bears is also due to launch on the HTC Vive platform in the coming weeks.

Beginning her career at Facebook, WarDucks Founder and CEO, Nikki Lannen, established WarDucks with the intention of developing fun and engaging virtual reality games and has so far launched a hidden object game, Global Agents (which has had over half a million downloads), together with its Sneaky Bears suite of games.

Commenting on the recent investment by Suir Valley, Nikki Lannen said: “Virtual reality will increasingly become part of the fabric of our everyday lives and gaming is pioneering this as we speak. Our Sneaky Bears brand has already performed extremely well on mobile VR platforms, however our move now to more sophisticated hardware, including PlayStation, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive marks an important step for WarDucks. I am delighted that Suir Valley recognises our potential in the expanding virtual reality space and is supporting our next phase of growth through this investment, together with Enterprise Ireland and other private investors.”

Barry Downes, Managing Partner – Suir Valley Ventures, said, “We are delighted to announce that we are leading the investment round in WarDucks. Nikki and her team have already had major success, launching a number of hit VR games on mobile, and we are thrilled to help the company bring its unique Sneaky Bears IP to console and PC platforms. For the team at Suir Valley, VR is an area of enormous opportunity and potential, and we remain keen to increase our exposure to this market and become a leading investor in the expanding industry. We see Dublin based WarDucks as a great example of the type of games studio that is going to be hugely successful in the VR industry and are looking forward to working with Nikki and her team to support them grow the company rapidly and launch unique products worldwide.”

Niall McEvoy, Manager, HPSU ICT Dept, Enterprise Ireland said: “WarDucks is an innovative Irish start up making strong technical and commercial progress in the rapidly growing Virtual Reality space. The company is combining innovation with global ambition and Enterprise Ireland looks forward to continuing to work with them as they expand and scale in international markets”.

Suir Valley Ventures was launched in partnership with Shard Capital Partners LLP in February 2017. As part of the agreement, Toby Raincock, CEO of Shard Capital, is joining the Board to support WarDucks.

* ENDS *