Shropshire immersive technology firm Igloo Vision raises £435,000

Igloo Vision, a Shropshire-based immersive technology company, has raised an additional £435,000 under the government’s Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS).

Igloo creates immersive projection spaces, such as domes, cylinders, cubes, and immersive workspaces. Its technology can display any 360° or Virtual Reality (VR) content, and is well-suited to training, simulation, and visualisation, as well as events and experiences.

The latest fundraising round, which closed in early April, secured investment from several sources. £200,000, came from the London-headquartered financial services firm and asset manager Mariana UFP LLP under its Growth EIS Fund. The remaining £235,000 was secured from Igloo’s existing Midlands-based investors, including Frontier Development Capital and the Midven-managed Greater Birmingham EIS.

The investment will help the company to build out its existing software suite and refine its product range. Earlier in 2020, Igloo unveiled a new immersive workspace concept, which enables clients to retrofit Igloo technology into existing meeting rooms. Similarly, in response to the Coronavirus crisis, Igloo has developed a range of immersive video conferencing techniques, to help remotely-located project teams collaborate more effectively. The new funds will help Igloo to productise both of these solutions.

Igloo’s previous funding round closed in May 2019, when Frontier Development Capital invested £1 million in Igloo. Since then, the company valuation has seen an uplift of 75%, staff numbers have grown from 50 to 80, the business has opened new demonstration centres in both Manhattan and Central London, it has entered into a partnership with the world’s largest AV systems integrator and has added several new clients to its roster, including WarnerMedia, NTT, Automobili Pininfarina and Telstra.