Baidu set up an independent venture capital company to focus on artificial intelligence and VR, AR project investment; Ant Financial research and development of VR payment products debuted in Shenzhen, "Double Creation Week"; Sony launched the PS VR in the Chinese market and the global synchronization starting ... recently This series of events seems to have brought a warm current to the "VR capital winter", so that people began to re-examine the development prospects of the VR industry.
VR investment cooling
The VR investment frenzy began in the second half of 2015 to early 2016. At that time, the venture capitalist statement must be called VR, and its level of excitement was staggering.
According to incomplete statistics, from the second half of 2015 onwards, the number of investment cases in the VR industry has reached 117, and the total investment scale has exceeded 4 billion yuan, of which hardware and equipment investment accounted for the largest, reaching 58 cases.
Speaking of the buzz of the VR market, Bai Da, general manager of Beijing Goer Investment Management Co., Ltd., frankly stated, “It was too hot and hot last year.†As an internationally competitive B-side VR solution provider, Beijing Nuoyitan Technology Co., Ltd. Co., Ltd. caught up with this wave of investment frenzy. The company’s founder and CTO Dai Ruoli said in an interview with the media that from the beginning of 2015, he met with investors almost every day and met more than 100 investment institutions in one year.
In fact, after entering 2016, the VR investment has started to cool down. In 2015, the number of investment cases was 57 and the investment scale was 2.4 billion yuan. In the first half of 2016, the number of investment cases dropped to 38, and the investment scale was 1.54 billion yuan.
By the second half of 2016, many VR startups have felt that financing is not as smooth as in the first half of the year. “On the one hand, the real economy has slipped and the capital market has been cautious; on the other hand, the VR boom has receded and problems have begun to surface,†said Chen Yifan, vice president of Nu Yiteng, in an interview with a reporter from China Enterprise News.
Hardware equipment companies are hit hardest
From statistical data, it is not difficult to find that in this round of investment frenzy, capital particularly favors hardware equipment companies.
In fact, many industry investors are not optimistic about VR hardware investment. Ziquan Fund Partner Zhang Quanling had publicly stated that he was cautious about hardware investment and pointed out that VR hardware technology including resolution, delay, poor interaction, dizziness and other direct impact on the user's actual experience, the lack of relevant VR standards increased the product Adaptation is difficult, and the high requirements of the VR device on the supporting terminal performance limit the large-scale application of VR technology.
"99% of hardware companies will die." In Baida's view, smart hardware is not simple. He said, "First, the cost of producing smart hardware is very high. Second, the cycle of hardware manufacturing is also very long, at least three months to six months. And sometimes, just a simple idea of ​​entrepreneurs, no producers, Without buyers, this is a big problem."
In response, Peng Shuangquan, general manager of Shenzhen Siwei Software Technology Co., Ltd., which focuses on the application of VR in the vertical real estate industry, stated that “hardware is a matter for giants such as Google and HTC. They built the platform well, and we played on the content. Peng Shuangquan told the "China Enterprise News" reporter that the VR market is in cold weather. The big reason is that there is a certain gap between the market outlook and the maturity of the technology at this stage. The prospects are good, but the entire software, hardware, and other supporting systems are still not perfect. Expectations are too high and it will be cold.
David Cao, partner of the Silicon Valley Valley Investment and Financing Platform and venture capital fund F50, believes that cooling VR investment is a natural reaction. “Every industry has its own rules and ups and downs, and when it's overheating, the cooling rate will be faster. But from a historical point of view, this is just a small wave, and it will go up. Removing the bubble is actually a good thing for VR development."
Zhang Hongzhong, a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Beijing Normal University, disagreed with the argument that “VR capital is a cold winter.†He said that at present, the VR industry is still in an early stage of innovation and development. Blindly chasing it is an imaginary phenomenon. Zhang Hongzhong believes that "from the end of last year to the first half of this year, VR is very hot, and in the second half of the year, industrial development has returned to a normal state of rationality." He said that some problems were inevitable in the early stages. "It is precisely because of this problem that companies There is an opportunity to enter, this market can be promoted."
Socialize or become the development direction of the industry
Capital will eventually be attributed to reason. Chen Yufan believes that "companies that have their own core technological advantages, business models have already been verified, and can form a synergistic advantage in scarce resources will continue to be sought after by capital."
"The reason why many hardware companies will be eliminated is because of the lack of domestic originality in technology." When talking about which companies are still optimistic about capital, Zhang Hongzhong said, "There is a lot of uncertainty in the entire industrial chain at this time because Innovation continues, technology is still iteratively updated, not yet fully mature, this phase of the entire industry chain is an opportunity to see which company can grasp the real demand point in the industry chain.†Zhang Hongzhong told reporters.
David Cao is more optimistic about the future of VR content production direction, "If the content is not unique, not good enough, still can not do it."
Chen Yufan believes that VR is still promising in terms of hardware. In addition to the head-up display, high-performance hosts including VR-ready, VR interactive devices, VR location tracking systems, and the next-generation broadband communication technology required for VR social networking all have potential.
“The VR trend in the future is mobilization, scenarios, socialization, and hybridization. On the one hand, VR penetration into the mass market requires the further maturation of mobile VR devices. On the other hand, highly customized virtual VR ground experience venues are in demand. VR is finally in demand. Will bid farewell to the closed state of the game alone to enter a VR social age. And hybrid means that in the process of VR development will also use technologies including AR, MR and AI to enhance the sensory experience." For the future of VR trends Chen Yufan said.
The prospect of VR will surely come true in the next 3-5 years, but it will be completely different from today's form and media. Zhang Hongzhong said, “VR will be involved in our life and work in all aspects and will be deeper than we think. ."