Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are considered by many to be the technology stacks that will largely disrupt not only the entertainment industry but also extend to other industries as well.
All types of innovation that can help us better understand our environment, support us with contextual information or even immerse us into entirely different worlds is more than likely to roll over anything we have in use right now.
Such technologies could have substantial impacts on industrial sectors, in healthcare, as well as education and just about any other type of work or entertainment aspect you could imagine.
Now, to tell the truth, we are not there yet, but unlike the VR trends from past episodes, now the technology is likely to deliver all the required features. All the interesting stARtups that had a very good idea about how to use AR or VR are getting funded like mad and ultimately getting acquired by larger companies. This not rarely the lifecycle of an idea and often the end of a startup as per the view of a venture capitalist.
21 deals of the last 12 months
We checked in the past 12 months and wanted to find out who bought who to diversify their portfolio or introduce new solutions to the existing portfolio. We found the following 21 acquisitions and prepared the data for you in a table for better viewing. Check them out here, ordered by the announcement date:
| Acquired Company | Acquiring Company | Date of Announcement | Price | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3DPhy.com | PropTiger | 11-Aug-16 | Undisclosed | Complete |
| Secret Location | Entertainment One | 18-Aug-16 | Undisclosed | Complete |
| Kid Neon Images | Deloitte | 19-Sep-16 | Undisclosed | Complete |
| Turnspace | HomeAway | 19-Sep-16 | Undisclosed | Complete |
| BioLucid | Sharecare | 29-Sep-16 | Undisclosed | Complete |
| Nozon | Starbreeze | 25-Oct-16 | €7.1M | Complete |
| VOKE | Intel | 3-Nov-16 | Undisclosed | Complete |
| Grue Games | Seismic Games | 15-Nov-16 | Undisclosed | Complete |
| Cimagine Media | Snap Inc. | 25-Dec-16 | $30M | Complete |
| Impulsonic | Valve Software | 12-Jan-17 | Undisclosed | Complete |
| Amzon (HK) | Fireswirl Technologies | 3-Feb-17 | $7.2M | Pending |
| Dacuda | Magic Leap | 20-Feb-17 | Undisclosed | Complete |
| gestigon | Valeo | 13-Mar-17 | Undisclosed | Complete |
| Arrow VR | Imperium Media | 11-Apr-17 | Undisclosed | Complete |
| Into the VR World | AppSwarm Inc. | 13-Apr-17 | Undisclosed | Complete |
| XPerception | Baidu | 13-Apr-17 | Undisclosed | Pending |
| Saiyan Productions | Imperium Media | 10-May-17 | Undisclosed | Complete |
| Owlchemy Labs | 10-May-17 | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | |
| VRB | Samsung Electronics | 16-Jun-17 | $5.5M | Pending |
| Pericept | ClearEdge3D | 6-Jul-17 | Undisclosed | Pending |
| SpaceView | Atheer | 12-Jul-17 | Undisclosed | Pending |
A lot of transactions in only 12 months to say the least. What else can we notice? The actual price details of the acquisitions are mostly undisclosed. There is a little bit of a transparency issue here with these items, but that is not entirely unusual with disruptive technologies.
Did we miss any acquisitions that should be part of this? Share your thoughts below in the comments!
Photo credit: Olabi Makerspace / Ian Hughes
Source: Crunchbase
