Engage XR revenue rises as virtual communications platform grows

Company targeting metaverse launch in second half of 2022

Engage XR chief executive David Whelan: ‘Metaverse is a really exciting growth opportunity for our business’
Engage XR chief executive David Whelan: ‘Metaverse is a really exciting growth opportunity for our business’

Waterford-based virtual reality company Engage XR Holdings said group revenue rose 68 per cent last year as the company continued to expand it services.

The company offers virtual communications solutions through its proprietary software platform, Engage. It provides users with a platform for creating, sharing and delivering VR content for education, training and online events.

Revenue for 2021 was €2.4 million,with Engage revenue up 200 per cent year on year to €1.8 million.

The group’s cash position was €7.8 million with no debt at the end of December, strengthened by a successful €9 million fundraise.

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Engage now has more than 139 commercial customers. Among the contracts signed during the year were a contract with 3M for an exploratory project that would use the Engage platform to build its own MetaWorld, 3M Home.

It also signed an initial contract with classical curriculum development company Optima Domi to service the first VR-based Florida charter school and a six-figure contract with a Korean enterprise customer in December 2021.

Engage XR also appointed Ryanair chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs to its board, and expanded the strategic partnership with HTC.

The group said it was on track to deliver its medium-term financial objectives, which includes annual Engage revenue growth in excess of 100 per cent until a €10 million target was achieved by 2025, gross margin in excess of 80 per cent once Engage revenue is between €5 million and €10 million annually, and 10 per cent average month-on-month increase to reach 100,000 monthly users.

Chief executive David Whelan said 2021 was a pivotal year of growth for the business.

“The really exciting growth opportunity for our business is providing metaverse services, via Engage, to major enterprise clients. Our metaverse plans for Engage are very different to Meta’s Horizons, Microsoft’s AltSpace or Roblox,” he said.

“We are well positioned to become the enterprise solution for companies seeking to enter the metaverse to host meetings, events, product launches and conduct training. We are already capturing this opportunity through our work with 3M, who is using our platform to build its own ‘MetaWorld’. We look forward to fully launching our metaverse offering in the second half of this year.”

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien is an Irish Times business and technology journalist