Unity Technologies’ Unity Engine is playing an increasingly important role in the VR industry, and new funds announced today should help it grow further still.
Unity Technologies is getting $400 million from private equity firm Silver Lake. That is if regulators approve the deal, taking its valuation to $2.6 billion. Company CEO Riccitello explained to Bloomberg that a “big chunk” of the money would allow employees and some shareholders to cash out.
“In terms of primary capital we don’t ultimately need all that primary capital—the capital is safety when we’re investing to grow as fast as we are,” Riccitello said.
When asked about the deals success, the CEO pointed towards its work in VR and AR.
“The second act that I think attracts a lot of investors and investor interest is the fact that we have about 70 percent of AR and VR content built on Unity,” Riccitiello said. “We’ve got a first wave that is going really really well and we have a second one that is dominant.”
Unity’s move into VR is far more ambitious than game development though. It sees its toolset as powering a new way of interactive and passive experiences used for other forms of entertainment and beyond. At last month’s Vision Summit the company held a keynote that featured on VR game, with the rest consisting of movies, professional applications and more.
On top of that, Unity is looking to VR to empower more users to create content with simple tools made available though the company’s EditorVR. This allows people to edit 3D worlds from inside VR using intuitive actions afforded by position tracked controllers seen on the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Paired with the Carte Blanche editor, which is meant to give people quick access to content creation in VR, Unity sees its engine covering all aspects of the industry going forward.
