British extended reality (XR) company Luminous has begun its expansion following a generous £1 million funding round, Mercia Asset Management announced on Thursday.
The Newcastle, UK-based company will use the capital to create 10 additional jobs and expand its technology solutions globally.
The company received investment from the North East Venture Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund. Mercia Ventures will also contribute to a series of investments.
The cash will come from the North East Venture Fund, backed by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Mercia Ventures.
Some of the target markets include the Middle East, where there is growing interest in virtual, augmented and mixed reality news.
Luminous also aims to brand its immersive solutions as a “self-service” platform through a global marketing campaign.
Leading investment firm Mercia began recapitalizing Luminous in 2017, bringing total funding to more than £1.9 million. The news comes after the British company signed a deal with a Middle Eastern energy company and opened a regional office in Bahrain.
Luminous recently signed a major contract with an unnamed Middle Eastern energy company and recently opened an international office in Bahrain.
Luminous XR Platform and Meta Quest 3
This news comes as Luminous improves and expands its Luminous XR platform with the Meta Quest 3 passthrough feature.
In a recent YouTube video, the company demonstrated a new passthrough feature for mixed reality (MR) training for Meta Quest 3, ushering in a new era of immersive training and worker upskilling.
Immersive tools allow instructors to educate students with several key goals:
First of all, the platform direction tool Allows learners to become accustomed to controlling an avatar in an immersive space. It also provides guidance on interacting with others, completing training modules, and learning curriculum objectives.
1-1 Mentoring Additionally, students can learn educational modules in a sequential manner with visual cues, auditory instructions, and other tools.
Students can then apply the training by recalling the instructions they received in that module, and the LMS will flag any errors in student performance.
Additionally, the company also operates 3D scanning technology For seamless integration and procurement of digital twins. This plays an important role in the development of industrial metaverse solutions, as 3D assets help companies monitor, analyze, and populate their virtual industrial XR spaces.
To create virtual and mixed reality experiences, Luminous integrated Luminous Flow, a developer tool for creating creative content for immersive training scenarios.
Luminous XR: Out-of-the-box features
Complementary tools also provide users with an out-of-the-box graphing system for faster upskilling and training through real-time insights.
Today, Luminous has developed immersive tools for the industrial metaverse. This allows companies to leverage XR solutions to improve processes in facilities, shop floors, etc.
Visit the Manufacturing and Industrialization exhibition, where leaders from the energy, manufacturing and technology sectors come together to find practical solutions to rapidly decarbonize heavy industry. pic.twitter.com/L3qhPVDwXH
— ADIPEC (@ADIPECOfficial) October 2, 2023
The new technology platform allows users to create immersive training programs for XR learners. Additional features include progress tracking through a central learner management system (LMS).
For Luminous, we rely on clients such as energy companies, manufacturers and other large industrial users. Our innovative XR training platform allows users to experience life-like situations in VR to solve workplace challenges such as hazardous or hazardous environments.
Comments on investment growth
Speaking of new investment capital, Ben Bennett, Luminous CEOsaid in a recent statement.
“Although the ‘metaverse’ is still in its infancy, VR and XR technologies have matured considerably, and the launch of Apple’s first mixed reality headset next year is expected to drive increased awareness and global demand.”
Chris McCourt, investment director at Mercia Ventures, added that current training technology in many industries around the world is “costly and outdated”.
He added,
“Immersive training in a virtual environment can significantly improve performance, but creating such programs has been challenging until now. The Luminous XR platform enables much broader adoption. “This investment will allow the company to expand its business and become a global leader in XR training.”
Luminescence and Industry 4.0
The company brands its solutions for the Industrial Metaverse and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. For the company, it hopes to prepare businesses and businesses for the coming changes associated with the rise of the industrial metaverse.
The website acknowledges the “ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices” using “modern smart technologies and the seamless interconnection of the real and digital worlds.”
Additionally, emerging technologies such as the cloud, intelligent edge computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence are enabling businesses to “move away from the constraints of traditional 2D interactions.”
He added that companies will move from screens to immersive extended reality experiences and industry metaverses.
To achieve this, Luminous Group has designed and launched a “suite of complementary solutions” to help large manufacturing organizations in energy and other sectors “harness the power of these new technologies.”
This allows businesses to enjoy “unparalleled efficiency,” major cost savings, improved knowledge retention, and greater knowledge transfer. It also concluded that savings can be achieved by reducing travel costs and the impact of the solution on the global environment.
This comes as numerous companies such as Virtualware, Siemens, NVIDIA, Meta, etc. are working to develop industrial Metaverse solutions.
Carriers such as Nokia, Ericsson, T-Mobile, and Huawei have turned to the industrial metaverse to increase global network capacity, bandwidth, and functionality while reducing latency and environmental impact.