Investors put more than £150m of capital into UK virtual reality (VR) companies in 2021, making it a record year of funding for the sector. Moreover private investment in UK VR startups surged by 72 percent from 2020 levels. According to an analysis by institutional stockbroking firm Arden Partners.
An extraordinary jump in investment in Q4 saw £72 million raised. Exceeding the previous record of £46 million set in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Total UK VR investment stood at £154m in 2021 versus £90m in 2020.
According to Arden Partners, the video game business will increase exponentially in the long run as a result of growing interest in the metaverse. In addition the latest tech buzzword for a future internet made up of a network of virtual and augmented worlds.
Following the mixed success of prior VR technologies. VR businesses have received increased interest from investors. Boosted by internet heavyweights such as Facebook coming into the metaverse field.
“We’ve seen a surge of companies in this industry shift to public equity markets, and we expect that trend to continue”. Said Arden research director Alex DeGroote. “Significant technological advancements in virtual reality. In addition the metaverse are laying the groundwork for the emergence of new disruptors to challenge the likes of Facebook, Apple, and Google. Which are putting a lot of effort and money into capitalizing on the virtual reality space’s potential returns.”
Every quarter of 2020 set a new revenue record. With Covid-19’s stay-at-home restrictions assisting in the tremendous expansion of virtual reality in the games business. Shattering revenue, user, and growth records.
Arden believes VR is the fastest-growing market segment in the UK gaming industry
Arden estimates that virtual reality will grow by 31.7 percent in 2021. And at the same rate for the next five years, making it the fastest-growing sector in the UK gaming industry.
2021 was a great year for gaming firms having their public debuts, thanks to a boom in M&A activity in the UK. Tencent and odemaster bught Sumo Group from EA for a totalof $2.5 billion. Moreover Devolver Digital floated. Raising $261 million and becoming the largest company ever admitted to the London Stock Exchange and the second-largest company ever listed on AIM. In addition TinyBuild floated, raising £36 million and being valued at £340 million upon admission by the market.
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