Market Reality: Boeing HorizonX Takes Flight with AR Investment

Welcome to the maiden voyage of our new Market Reality column. Each Friday, NextReality will give you a roundup of news briefs from the financial end of the augmented and mixed reality industry. We'll cover funding news, market analysis, and more.

Boeing Forms Technology Investment Group

This week, the Boeing Companyunveiled its new group, Boeing HorizonX, for venture capital investments.

Led by Steve Nordlund, Vice President of Boeing HorizonX, the group also announced two early-stage investments in Upskill, an augmented reality software developer focused on industrial productivity (shown in the video below), and Zunum Aero, a company developing alternative propulsion aircraft.

"Boeing HorizonX is tasked with ensuring we are fully engaged with opportunities from early-stage companies, market trends and emerging technologies while also fostering more rapid and effective internal innovation," said Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing Chairman, President, and CEO, in a news release.

AR Gaming Growth Expected to Exceed 150% by 2021

A new report by Research and Markets predicts that the global augmented reality gaming market will grow by a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 151.43% by 2021.

Based on market analysis and input from industry experts, the report discusses key vendors, including Blippar, Qualcomm Technologies, Total Immersion, Wikitude, Zappar, and more.

In a press release, the firm noted that mobile AR and VR app developers have increasingly turned to crowdfunding to raise funds. The approach also increases visibility among consumers and provides a form of market research for developers.

Prodigy Ventures Sees Financial Growth in 2016

Prodigy Ventures, a Canada-based developer of mobile video, proximity, wearables, 3D, and augmented reality applications for enterprises, reported their 2016 fourth quarter and fiscal year financial results this week.

Prodigy Ventures, shown here opening Canada's TSX Venture Exchange in Sept. 2015, reported record revenue in 2016.

The company reported increases in revenue, gross profit and net income for the 2016 compared to the latter three quarters of 2015 (where the first quarter results were not available due to change in year-end date). Fourth quarter 2016 results showed increased revenue, but decreased gross profit and net income compared to fourth quarter 2015.

"Prodigy had an extraordinary year in 2016 as we not only achieved record revenue but saw our vision of our venture builder business feeding into our service business, Prodigy Labs, begin to actualize," said Tom Beckerman, CEO of Prodigy Ventures, in the earnings release.

Technical Innovations Enabling Productivity in Industrial Sector

Internet of things, big data, and augmented reality are sparking improvements in the industrial sector, according to a report by Frost & Sullivan.

"Industrial IoT enables factories to unlock operational efficiency, optimize production as well as assets and increase worker safety," said Frost & Sullivan Industrial Automation & Process Control Research Analyst Anisha Nikash Dumbre. "Recognizing these advantages, developed economies like Europe and the U.S. are eager to adopt Big Data, augmented reality (AR) and other Industrial IoT trends in the manufacturing space. Emerging economies like Asia-Pacific are also making significant progress toward deploying Industrial IoT technologies."

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Cover image via Upskill/YouTube