Virtualitics projects $7m onto series B

Virtualitics, a US-based data visualisation and analytics developer partly based on research at California Institute of Technology (Caltech), closed a $7m series B round yesterday led by investment firm Centricus.

The deal also included the multi-corporate-backed VC vehicle Venture Reality (VR) Fund and unnamed private investors.

Founded in 2017, Virtualitics has built a big data visualisation and analytics platform that conceptualises information such as graphs and trends rendered in virtual and augmented reality.

The platform combines elements of machine learning, visualisation and collaboration, and can also operate across desktop or mobile computing systems.

The company also helps clients build tailored machine learning or VR environments for data analytics purposes.

Virtualitics will put the funding towards further platform development as it aims to grow its customer base.

Virtualitics has now raised more than $11m in funding overall, including $4.4m from a series A round led by the VR Fund in April 2017. The company’s technology is based on 10 years of research at Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of space agency Nasa.

Ciro Donalek, co-founder and chief technology officer of Virtualitics, said: “Turning big and complex data into useful insights requires new ways to analyse and interact with it. We have solved for this by coupling AI with immersive environments.

“Moreover, business intelligence platforms need to be 3D and collaborative by design in order to help companies gain a deeper level of understanding in the stories being told by the raw data.”

VR Fund’s corporate backers include game developers Colopl, Gumi, Youzu and YJM Games, as well as public relations agency PMBC Group and internet portal Yahoo Japan.

Sinclair Digital Ventures and HP Tech Ventures, respective corporate venturing subsidiaries for media firm Sinclair Broadcast Group and computer manufacturer HP, have also backed the fund, as has state-owned Development Bank of Japan.