It’s been four years since we hit peak #VR #AR hype and things have certainly changed. But as an investor I am not deterred. I think that companies that will succeed in this are need to have a capability that is currently interesting to corporate executives - such as RPA

machine learning, data visualization, or 3D product hosting or rendering. You have to think about full virtual worlds as the end goal. We are not going to go from second life to fully immersive, light headset mixed reality in 4 years. It’s very sad that companies with amazing

Ideas have had to scale back. But the intellectual property will not go to waste @DAQRI @magicleap @blippar @HighFidelityXR @SansarOfficial @torchapp and so many more. These companies are like the first search engines in the web. I remember using 5 or 6 search engines before

Google was invented. Each one has a specialization but not one of them was clean, elegant, simple, and powerful. Yet all of these early search engines led to the development of the gigantic trillion dollar industry of web search. For creators out there uploading to @Sketchfab and

Other platforms, don’t be discouraged. #3D art is having a renaissance. The work of people like @VR_Rosie shows that the medium is improving every day. For me it’s logical that the web will need to have #3D assets as a core component eventually. I can’t imagine #ecommerce will

Not be #3D centric in a few years. A 3D model is 100X more powerful than a set of pictures and you have many methods for generating them. #photogrammetry is a hot research field, @opencvlibrary provides amazing capabilities for 3D reconstruction for FREE. Many companies are

Trying to create an automated pipeline for 2D pictures to 3D models. Some of them use existing pictures and others require special lighting conditions for product shots. The company that automates this process will find a lucrative market with the world’s largest e-commerce

Properties on the web. We know the web is driven by e-commerce and social. It’s true that 3D has only made a slight dent in these massive industries, but don’t be forlorn!! Look at the amazing trends that have emerged from the pandemic. People using @zoom_us are creating

Virtual backgrounds to express themselves. New companies like #mmhmm recently featured on
@ProductHunt are allowing you to create a design centric experience for your conferences, placing the data behind you like a real life presentation. Of course there are developments

In the field of face movement replication in avatars. This has become a hot topic as we spend out days in meetings. It’s true that most people don’t have their own avatar that they use for @MicrosoftTeams or @zoom_us but that doesn’t mean we aren’t headed in that direction. And

@NianticLabs is building the #AR cloud for gaming with @openarcloud making tremendous progress on establishing protocols. @oculus is releasing plans for ultra thin #VR devices and they are buying tons of studios. Is it disappointed we don’t have an @Apple headset yet? Sure, but

We finally have confirmation from @business that it’s an important priority for the company, and in typical form they won’t release until it’s perfect. In that sense the pandemic has given scientists, designers, and programmers the chance to refine their designs. And don’t let

People depress you by saying “ #VR didn’t take off during the pandemic”. There is a good reason for that. We have all been working 12-14 hours days dealing with crisis after crisis. It’s easy to play @Zelda_BotW with your kids or friends for a few minutes and get back to work. It

Isn’t isolating. Right now #VR is isolating. That’s the last thing we are looking for in this pandemic. #VR is becoming more social with @VRChat @recroom @AltspaceVR surviving in all this madness. But these experiences will not be our first resort for social interaction until

They feel more genuine. We just aren’t there yet in terms of avatar quality and interaction mechanisms. I honestly feel more connected to people on @SecondLife than any of the #VR worlds. Why? Because I can still help my kids with homework while having my avatar converse. So

Virtual worlds will not succeed if they isolate us, especially in a pandemic. They need to allow us to bring our real family and friends into mixed reality environments. For this reason I am bullish on companies that are making the ubiquitous “video conference call” a better

Experience. I think this is a great opportunity to include #3D elements in these calls, and not just silly flying sharks, but avatars that mimicked face movements and beautiful virtual background that express your personality.