• AR and VR technology has a wide range of use cases including surgical training, gaming, and e-commerce.
• Startups in the red-hot industry attracted a record $7.2 billion of venture capital funding in 2021, according to Dealroom.
• We profiled 14 VR and AR startups that are poised to take off, according to top VCs.

For years, augmented reality and virtual reality were seen as a set of niche technologies that were reserved for entertainment.

Gaming companies like Roblox and Improbable dominated the AR and VR market, but broader use cases have captured the attention of investors, as the technologies promise to revolutionize everything from medical training and construction to buying and selling. online conferences.

The promise of widespread adoption prompted Mark Zuckerberg to change the name of Facebook’s holding company to Meta to emphasize his desire for the business to lean heavily toward a metaverse-based future. On the other hand, Apple is reportedly about to introduce its own mixed reality headset that is set to combine AR and VR on the same device.

Virtual reality uses sensory and haptic technology to simulate real-life experiences in a completely virtual environment, typically accessible through a headset. By comparison, AR adds to a user’s existing environment and can be accessed through a phone or glasses rather than a headset. Images and animations are superimposed on real objects so that the two worlds coexist.

Investor appetite for AR and VR startups hit an all-time high last year, raising $7.2 billion globally, according to data from Dealroom.

“Much of what makes up the metaverse will not be completely disassociated from our offline world,” said Andrew J Scott, founding partner of 7percent Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in AR/VR startups. “We believe that the companies that connect both worlds will be great”.

David Ripert, founder and CEO of Poplar, an AR marketing startup for e-commerce retailers, believes there is more momentum in Europe post-pandemic, even though the US largely dominates funding to date. date.

Europe-based FOV Ventures recently launched a new fund for startups operating in the metaverse, the first of its kind on the continent as the industry draws more investor attention. With VC pouring $4.4 billion into AR and VR startups in the first quarter of this year, 2022 looks set to be a lucrative year for the sector.

Insider asked top venture capitalists to share the top AR and VR startups to watch and they outlined 14 of them.