It seems the consumer version of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset is finally going to happen. This is mostly due to a very generous investor who has donated a whopping $75 million towards the Series B versions of their headset.
The funding for Series B comes from angel investor Andreessen Horowitz, alongside a sizable amount of money towards the Series A version from Spark Capital, Matrix Partners and Formation|8. In June, Oculus VR confirmed that it had raised roughly $16 million in funding, far exceeding their original $2.4 million total from the kickstarter campaign that ignited all of their success.
Brendan Iribe, CEO of Oculus VR, had this to say regarding the growth of the company:
“Over the past 16 months, we’ve grown from a start-up to a company whose virtual reality headset is poised to change the way we play, work and communicate. 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 Andreessen, will help us take the final steps toward our ultimate goal: making virtual reality something consumers everywhere can enjoy.”
John Carmack, now the Chief Technical Officer of Oculus VR, had this to say regarding the Series B consumer 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, I could say the same about other digital experiences as well. What will revolutionize gaming, and interactive content in general, is putting people inside the digital world. That is our goal at Oculus, and this Series B will help us get there.”
Andreessen Horowitz’s co-founder, Mark Andreessen, said Oculus “will not only alter the gaming landscape but will redefine fundamental human experiences in areas like film, education, architecture and design.” Andreessen is joining the Oculus VR board of directors, due to his company’s hand in the funding.
Developers and enthusiasts alike have been tinkering with and developing things for the Oculus Rift headset for almost a year now, and the team at Oculus VR are hard at work developing 1080p and 4K versions of the headset. Thanks to this new funding, a consumer version of the headset is “months, not years” away.
