Virti Raises $10m For Immersive Surgery Trainer

The Bristol-Based Firm Has Seen a Sharp Rise in Growth as It Readies Its VR-Powered Training Solution

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Virti Headset in Action
Virtual RealityInsights

Published: July 2, 2021

Demond Cureton

British virtual reality (VR) training platform Virti has successfully raised $10 million in Series A funding for its immersive surgery training solution, the company announced on Wednesday.

Firms such as deeptech investors IQ Capital, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and others led the fundraiser, which comes amid critical growth for the Bristol-based firm.

The round comes as three professionals – Kurt Kratchman, Mark Ashworth, and Michael Hernandez – recently joined Virti, with the former two coming from Oracle to become the chief risk officer and chief financial (operating) officer, respectively.

Mr Hernandez will join from his previous role at Nearpod to become Head of Customer Services.

The development comes amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has placed pressure on many of the world’s organisations to seek new training solutions to upskill workforces.

Virti faced a spike in demand for its solutions last year, at the height of the pandemic, which boosted its revenues nearly tenfold and doubled its workforce as the medical industry aimed to tackle the crisis.

Background on Vitri’s Immersive Solution

The company was launched by Dr Alexander Young, an NHS trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, and aims to empower organisations with VR-powered immersive simulations and data analyses backed by AI for top learning and training experiences.

Vitri’s acclaimed technologies convert skills such as teamwork, communication, and decision-making into quantifiable measurements and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Time Magazine recently named the startup as one of its Best Inventions of 2020 and Fast Company lauded Virti one of its Most Innovative Companies of 2021.

The immersive learning platform allows organisations to build training modules to determine the performance of learners with AI and natural language processing (NLP), allowing organisation to deploy simulations via mobiles, desktop computers, and virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) headsets.

Vitri has received rigorous testing and proven to increase training outcomes up to 230 percent, namely as organisations and professionals shift to remote working, the company added.

Numerous global healthcare settings, namely at universities, the public sector, and corporations, rely on the new training solution to scale its training exercises and boost surgical accuracy. Immersive solutions such as Virtra’s have been proven to be more effective than in-person and lecture-based education styles.

Dr Alexander Young, CEO and founder of Virti, said:

“At Virti, our goal is to maximise human performance by making experiential learning affordable and accessible for everyone. In-person training has always been expensive with e-learning often unengaging – and research shows that employees forget upwards of 80% of episodic training. Virti exists to help organisations get the very best out of their people, by improving how teams train, learn and perform using scalable deep learning technology with a focus on soft-skills.

He added Vitri was “privileged” to include deep tech experts and educators in the Series A fundraiser to allow the firm to become a global leader in deep learning and digital training solutions.

Max Bautin, Managing Partner at IQ Capital, said:

“E-learning has seen strong growth over the last 5 years, and COVID-driven shift to remote work has increased demand many times over. Virti’s deeptech experiential learning platform is by far the best in the world. We are privileged to lead this highly competitive round and partner with Alex and his super-talented team to deliver on this exceptional growth opportunity.”

The news comes after several key firms in the immersive learning industry unveiled similar training solutions to prepare medical professionals for high-skilled work.

Canadian firm PrecisionOS launched its own mixed reality (MR) immersive platform, which allows surgeons and doctors to collaborate on training modules via a 5G-powered robot, regardless of location.

Ukrainian doctors also performed the nation’s first surgery this month using VR technologies to repair a congenital heart defect on a young female patient.

XR Today reported the VR/AR healthcare market could reach $5.1 billion in 2025, citing figures from Grandview Research, marking the massive potential of the emerging industry.

Kindly visit http://www.virti.com for more information.

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