Immersive VR Education (IVRE), a developer of virtual reality software and immersive experiences, has secured €1 million in a funding round led by Kernel Capital through the Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Venture Funds, Suir Valley Ventures and Enterprise Ireland.
A spin-out from WIT’s Telecoms Software & Systems Group, IVRE’s platform provides VR content that can be used in schools, colleges, universities, research centres and corporate training to teach any subject in a virtual environment allowing students to fully immerse themselves in the experience, making hard to visualise concepts easy to understand.
Last month the company took two HTC Viveport Developer Awards, adding to their tally of five international awards for their Engage Platform and Apollo 11 VR, which uses archive footage and audio from NASA to relive the historical moon landing of 1969. Apollo 11 was released in April 2016 and has sold more than 50,000 copies through the Oculus and Steam stores.
IVRE’s founding team of husband and wife David and Sandra Whelan currently employ 20 at their offices in Waterford. The company is collaborating with Oxford University and the Royal College of Surgeons to develop training programmes for medical professionals.
“This investment from Kernel Capital and Suir Valley Ventures will allow us as a company to continue to grow, continue to hire and expand beyond our current capabilities. Virtual reality is such an exciting, new and emerging industry with many new opportunities,” said David Whelan. “It’s great to work with such an established institution such as Kernel Capital with their proven track record of bringing early stage companies to fruition. We are very lucky to have them on board as partners on this journey to a new digital virtual world.”
Orla Rimmington, partner, Kernel Capital, said: “Virtual Reality is playing an increasingly important role in the evolution of education and Immersive VR Education is at the forefront of this change. IVRE has gained excellent market traction with their first VR experience Apollo 11, and this investment will help them to achieve scale and bring innovative new products to market.”
Joe Healy, manager, high-potential start-ups at Enterprise Ireland, said: “Enterprise Ireland has worked closely with Immersive VR Education from the early stages of their development when they secured Competitive Start Fund investment. Since then, the company has made exceptional commercial and technical progress, developing world leading technology in Waterford, and winning global awards in the Virtual Reality industry. Immersive VR Education is a great example of a highly innovative Irish company with global ambition, and Enterprise Ireland looks forward to continuing to work with them as they expand and scale in international markets.”
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