Having taken part in HTC Vive’s global VR/AR accelerator Vive X, debuting its technology in 2017, Italian startup Mindesk has now managed to secure a $900k investment which will see it move offices to San Francisco.
HTC Vive, Barcamper Ventures, A11 Venture and Invitalia Ventures all took part in the seed round which will further help Mindesk develop its CAD platform. “We are proud of the Italian excellence exhibited by Mindesk. HTC’s investment is evidence of the quality team behind Mindesk and their ability to shape the future of the global VR industry” added Sergio Buonanno, CEO of Invitalia Ventures.
Founded in 2015 in Bari, Italy by CEO and co-founder Gabriele Sorrento, Mindesk was created to aid real-time CAD collaboration, allowing multiple users to review, create and edit 3D CAD models all in virtual reality (VR).
“Tired of spending hours exporting their CAD model to third parties’ game engines, we made it possible to jump right in VR in just a click with no model preparation or export involved,” says Sorrento. “Our customers are active predominantly in the fields of architecture, ship design, industrial product design and creative arts, all who have tight deadlines and no time to waste in tech frictions.”
“We’re excited to see the success and progress Mindesk has made since graduating from the second batch of Vive X companies,” said Marc Metis, Vice President, HTC Vive in a statement. “Vive sees virtual reality having a tremendous impact on the AEC industry and we will continue to invest in companies like Mindesk who are pushing the industry forward.”
As for the future for Mindesk Sorrento mentions: “Future product offerings will scale on other CAD software including SolidWorks, a parametric CAD used extensively in mechanical engineering. Attendees who tried it at SolidWorksWorld 2019 in Dallas found the solution intuitive and attractive for the beneficial impact it could have on their businesses. We collected the application of interested designers and launched a closed beta at the end of February.”
A lot more companies are tending to look at the B2B applications of VR, such as presentation platform VRtuoso, so as the sector expands VRFocus will keep you updated.