Pimax, the Chinese language startup recognized for its extensive field-of-view (FOV) PC VR headsets, has secured an extra ¥CN100 million (~$13.6 million USD) in an extension to its Sequence C funding.
In keeping with an preliminary report from 36Kr (Chinese language), the funding spherical was led by Zhuji Jingchuang Rong Funding Co, and supported by earlier investor Ivy Capital, which took half within the firm’s $20 million Sequence B in 2020. This brings to firm’s total exterior funding to $82.7 million, in response to Crunchbase knowledge.
Pimax says its newest funding spherical will enable it to additional increase its R&D group within the US, and set up a brand new R&D group in Europe. The 36Kr report maintains Pimax’s buyer base is basically exterior of China, accounting for as a lot as 80% of the corporate’s headset gross sales.
“That is primarily because of the firm’s steady R&D and innovation capabilities, full product matrix format, and mature abroad market technique,” Pimax founder Robin Weng advised 36Kr. “It is usually because of the basic pattern of the worldwide high-end VR market coming into a steady and fast development observe.”
Since its founding in 2015, Pimax is finest recognized for its wide-FOV PC VR headsets, similar to its newest ‘Crystal’ sequence headsets. The corporate has additionally proven rising curiosity within the burgeoning slim and light-weight headset class with the announcement of Dream Air in December, a slim and feature-rich PC VR headset.
Priced at $1,900 and anticipated to launch in Might 2025, the corporate additionally announce an elective puck-style compute unit ‘Cobb’, which homes a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset for standalone VR.
Whereas Pimax has garnered a powerful quantity of funding through the years, and largely delivered on its most necessary guarantees, the corporate has some notable challenges forward.
In November, Pimax launched a brand new fee mannequin shifting ahead, permitting clients to purchase their headsets at a lower cost and take a look at both its Crystal Mild or soon-to-launch Crystal Tremendous risk-free for 14 days. As a substitute of shopping for a headset at its full MSRP, the brand new construction places requires the consumer to make an extra one-time fee after the trial interval so as to achieve continued entry to the headset’s required software program.
Whereas this system was initially introduced to incorporate a 10-day trial interval, the corporate shortly modified course to supply an extra 4 days after neighborhood backlash, and likewise an ostensible realization that it was obligated to supply 14 days as per shopper safety legal guidelines within the EU and UK.
Extra just lately, the announcement of Dream Air appears to proceed Pimax’s tendency to reveal new merchandise earlier than delivering on these it has beforehand introduced. Revealed again in April 2024, the corporate’s Crystal Tremendous headset was initially deliberate to launch someday in This fall 2024, nonetheless that was delayed to Q1 2025.
First batches containing the QLED 57 PPD optical engine are anticipated to start out delivery on the finish of January, with further optical engines slated to launch in March and April, the corporate tells us in a current Q&A.
As for Dream Air’s separate compute unit, Cobb, Pimax says its has “no actual ETA,” as the corporate nonetheless desires “so as to add some options that we didn’t talk in our Frontier announcement.” Based mostly on Pimax’s previous method, it’s attainable we could hear further bulletins earlier than Cobb reaches customers.
