Venture Capital Firm Andreessen Horowitz Leads the Round
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA (Dec 13, 2013) – Oculus VR, Inc., creators of the highly anticipated Oculus Rift, announced today that it has raised $75 million in Series B funding to finalize development of its virtual reality platform and ecosystem. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, which also included significant additional investment from the Series A investors Spark Capital, Matrix Partners and Formation 8.
Founded in 2009 by angel investors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, Andreessen Horowitz is world renowned for supporting the growth of emerging technology companies that change the world, including Facebook, Airbnb, Jawbone, Twitter and Skype. As part of the round, Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon will join Oculus VR’s board of directors.
“Over the past 16 months, we’ve grown from a startup to a company whose technology is poised to change the way we play, work and communicate,” said Brendan Iribe, CEO of Oculus VR. “40,000 developers and enthusiasts, as well as a number of great partners, have joined our cause and helped us bring the seemingly impossible to life. This additional infusion of capital, as well as the leadership and experience of Marc and Chris, will help us take the final steps toward our ultimate goal: making virtual reality something consumers everywhere can enjoy.”
“We believe Oculus will not only alter the gaming landscape but will redefine fundamental human experiences in areas like film, education, architecture, and design. Oculus is at the tip of the iceberg of its potential, and we’re incredibly excited to help them change the world,” said Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz.
Oculus VR previously raised $16 million in Series A and $2.4 million through its Kickstarter campaign – almost 10 times its fundraising goal. The company has sold more than 40,000 Oculus Rift development kits to developers that are actively supporting the headset.
“The games industry is well past the point where more pixels, texels, flops, and frames displayed on the same fixed screens are really changing the experiences that players get. What will revolutionize gaming is putting the gamer inside the game. That is our goal at Oculus, and this Series B will help us get there,” said John Carmack, CTO of Oculus VR.
The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset that allows users to step inside virtual worlds. It provides an immersive, stereoscopic 3D experience with a huge field of view — 110 degrees diagonally — that overcomes many of the challenges that virtual reality faced in the past.
Oculus is currently recruiting world-class engineers to develop the Oculus virtual reality platform. No release date has been announced for the commercial release. To stay updated on Oculus’ progress, please visit oculusvr.com.
This VR headset supports room-scale tracking, allowing users to move and navigate within a designated play area. For room-scale tracking, additional Oculus sensors need to be set up in the room to track the user’s position accurately.