Global VR provider gets new funding

InContext Solutions, a global provider of virtual reality (VR) solutions for retailers and manufacturers, has announced the closing of a US$15.2-million funding round. The round, led by Intel Capital and Beringea, will help InContext Solutions accelerate sales and marketing efforts, expand its geographic footprint and improve its VR product portfolio, including further development of solutions for head-mounted devices.

“This latest round of funding gives us strong strategic backers who share our vision of even more robust, fully-immersive VR solutions for retail,” said Mark Hardy, CEO of InContext Solutions. “We have long been a leader in Web-based VR and this investment allows us to aggressively develop our VR platform, further lowering costs and improving speed and revenue for our clients.”

InContext Solutions helps retailers  and manufacturers more rapidly visualise, test and deploy new retail concepts using hyper-realistic simulations of actual retail environments. Available through InContext’s agship ShopperMX VR platform, clients can create optimal in-store shopper experiences that lower risk and improve the bottom line.

VR has proven to be a disruptive new approach to traditionally slow and expensive retail processes, significantly  reducing the cost and time required for companies to conceive, create, test and activate in-store experiences. By streamlining these processes, InContext Solutions’ VR technology powers shopping experiences that are more engaging for consumers and more protable for clients.

“VR is expanding to many different industries in addition to gaming,” said Doug Fisher, senior vice-president and general manager of the Software and Services group at Intel Corporation. “InContext Solutions has already had signicant impact on VR for the retail and manufacturing industries. We are excited to see how VR solutions based on Intel Architecture, such as InContext’s, are poised to transform industries in more immersive, interactive ways.”

In September this year, Intel and InContext Solutions agreed to develop new VR solutions for the retail ecosystem.