Edit No.65
AR you ready for this?
The Recap
March 14, 2021
It’s been a busy couple of weeks. Deals appear to be heating up, with some seriously large CVC-backed rounds happening (more on that below).
For this week’s recap, let’s double-click on the fascinating space of Augmented / Virtual Reality, where a number of wealthy innovators are trying to leap into the future.
In a report on the state of the industry, ARK predicted that the AR/VR market —sitting just at $1 billion today — will jump to $130 billion by 2030. Enabled by 5G and other technological advancements and spurred on by shifts in business and consumer landscapes, there are myriad ways AR/VR will show up. Holographic business calls might soon be coming to a (home) office near you.
Each of the major players is working to both build and be part of the market as it comes to life. These efforts will reduce the costs of the tech and make it more applicable to consumers overall. Apple has laid out an AR/VR technology roadmap — with an “affordable” headset coming first, then glasses, then contact lenses. A recent Apple patent even showed a wearable smart ring system for AR/VR purposes. Not to be left behind, Samsung appears to be working a similar angle, with AR hardware in the works.
Snap’s Evan Spiegel, a major AR evangelist, thinks that AR is not only the future of “self-expression”, but a massive point of defensibility for its business (that has been famously and egregiously “copied”). It will be fascinating to see if his hypothesis proves out — that they can both create more value for consumers AND ward off disruption more effectively, presumably by being thoroughly data-driven and therefore hyper personalized and contextualized. No matter what, we know Snap’s competitors won’t sit idly by if there are any signs of success.
Qualcomm is one of those enablers working to increase the performance and decrease the cost to open up the consumer market. Google has boosted AR performance in its hardware and is experimenting widely. Facebook has made huge strides in improving its headsets, now no longer tethered to a PC. And if you want to understand the magnitude of Facebook’s conviction in the space, they now employ more than 10,000 in pursuit of AR/VR — nearly a fifth of the company. Also wanting to ride this wave, Sony is working on streamlined VR capabilities to accompany its perpetually sold out PS5 hardware.
So as the consumerization picks up pace thanks to the technological advances, we’re also seeing an emphasis on the corporate customer. Likely spurred, at least in part, by the pandemic’s impact on business as usual, there have been renewed AR/VR efforts in the business world.
Microsoft, 2 weeks ago now, debuted its VR meeting platform, Mesh. The James Cameron produced presentation evinces a multi use case mixed reality that surely is ahead of current capabilities. But it reveals Microsoft’s intentions to be platform provider and enabler, for others to come in over the top with novel products.
Another corporate, Bank of America, announced that it would be partnering with VR workplace training platform Strivr to bring the technology into its programming for employees. From professional development and coaching, to enabling new or expedited services, B-of-A sees applicability from HQ to the branches, and plenty of places between.
Will there be an overnight flash of AR/VR success that we’ll all wish we’d invested in? Not likely. But is this wave continuing to build up and getting closer to cresting? Absolutely. The innovation dollars being spent here are likely more good after good, rather than wasteful and wishful. And no doubt, there are a number of use cases to which AR/VR can and will eventually serve. The precise details of who and how will be ones to watch.
Quick Links
Interesting reads from the rest of the market
🌯 Chipotle is launching a makeup line with Elf cosmetics.
👷♀️ How incumbents can industrialize business building.
👂 Alphabet’s moonshot lab is working on a device to give people superhuman hearing.
👻 Walmart Canada believes in ghosts — of the kitchen variety.
👟 Adidas aims for DTC to be 50% of sales by 2025.
🏦 SoFi to buy community lender to accelerate bank charter application.
🛒 Kroger private brands grow to $26.2 billion in sales.
💵 Temasek commits $500m to impact investing specialist LeapFrog.
👓 Almost a fifth of Facebook employees are now working on VR and AR.
The Water Cooler
Conversation starters for around the (virtual) office
Beeple’s $69 million NFT sale marks a potentially transformative moment for the art world. The bizarre tale of the world's last lost tourist, who thought Maine was San Francisco. Terry Crews is launching a social currency. Why Mormons make great FBI recruits. Taco Bell potatoes return is celebrated with NFT crypto collectibles.
The Corporate Card
Corporate Venture Deals
Salesforce Ventures & GV joined the $300m Series E of application security startup Snyk.
New York Life Insurance, Morgan Stanley, & MassMutual co-led the $200m Venture Round of Bitcoin investment firm NYDIG.
Salesforce Ventures joined the $170m Series C of African payments startup Flutterwave.
M12 joined the $135m Series E of cloud-native security startup Aqua Security.
Amazon invested $132m in Post-IPO Equity in air cargo transportation company Air Transport Services Group.
Koch Disruptive Technologies invested $110m in the Series B of AI-powered drug discovery development startup Valo Health.
Porsche Ventures invested €70m in the Venture Round of electric car and components maker Rimac Automobili.
Gradient Ventures joined the $60m Series A of tax credit discovery and claims startup MainStreet.
Next47 co-led the $50m Series A of the ‘Nasdaq for revenue’ startup Pipe with participation from Slack, Shopify, Okta, and other non-CVC’s.
Sapphire Ventures joined the $50m Series B of cross-cloud data governance startup Privacera.
Sapphire Ventures led the $40m Series B of enterprise service mesh startup Tetrate with participation from Samsung NEXT, Intel Capital, Dell Technologies Capital, and other non-CVC’s.
Intel Capital co-led the $32m Series C of employee engagement startup Centrical with participation from Citi Ventures and other non-CVC’s.
Next47, Okta Ventures & HubSpot Ventures joined the $30m Series B of enterprise data privacy management startup DataGrail.
ING Ventures invested $3m in strategic capital into credit scoring startup Flowcast.
The Bulletin Board
Job openings and opportunities
Senior Manager, Sony Innovation Fund Emerging Technologies at Sony. Sony Innovation Fund (SIF) is the corporate venture capital arm of Sony, which has been actively investing in breakthrough start-ups across the globe. The group has a clear mandate to identify, scout, and bet on new horizons for Sony. Reporting to the Managing Director-US and working alongside the global sector teams, this person will engage in all stages of investment activity from sourcing to due diligence to deal execution. Responsibilities also include thesis development as well as strategic and market analysis.
Head of Portfolio, Valiant Labs at Nike. The Head of Portfolio will drive the successful collaboration across diverse functions within our Portfolio team in a spirit of servant leadership that empowers and develops the leadership strengths of the team. By streamlining operations, maintaining portfolio governance, driving a cohesive portfolio strategy, fostering an open and honest feedback culture of leadership development and growth, and building strong relationships with our internal Nike partners, this Head of Portfolio will guide NVL into its next evolution.