Digital Catapult, a UK-based digital technology innovation centre which runs initiatives like the CreativeXR programme with Arts Council England has announced the launch of a 12-week accelerator called Augmentor. Supporting early-stage immersive virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) companies, applications are now open.
Augmentor is a 12-week accelerator programme offering immersive companies technical and business mentorship, access to state-of-the-art facilities and regular check-ins with investors. Ten companies will be selected to take part, helping them fine-tune their technology and commercially viable business proposition ahead of pitching to investors at a showcase in January.
Successful applicants will receive masterclasses delivered by Digital Catapult as well as partners and mentors, including HTC Vive X, Edge Investments, Remagine Ventures, Station 12 and Mercia Technologies.
“Immersive technologies increasingly display massive untapped potential for business applications from product design to hazardous conditions training, across many different industrial sectors,” comments Jeremy Silver, CEO, Digital Catapult in a statement. “Unlocking this depends on early stage companies innovating in this space, finessing their propositions and securing investment. We have established Augmentor to provide the skills companies need to approach investors with greater confidence and clearly establish their product market fit.”
“Augmentor has been instrumental in supporting new and early-stage VR/AR startups in the UK,” comments Dave Haynes, Director of Vive X Europe. “It’s been a pleasure to mentor many of the companies, helping them prepare to meet their first investors. This led to HTC leading an investment in KageNova last year through our Vive X program.”
This will be the third Augmentor programme Digital Catapult has run, with previous successes including self-serve AR platform HoloMe and end-to-end reality capture and digital delivery platform, Reality Zero One. Up to now, participants have managed to secure over £3.1 million GBP of investment since taking part in the programme, thanks to Digital Catapult partnering with some of the world’s leading investment funds.
Applications are now open until 6th September at the official Augmentor website. VRFocus will continue its coverage of the Augmentor programme, reporting back with further updates.
via Mint VR