London-based startup Gravity Sketch has announced a new funding round of around £3 million to grow its virtual reality 3D tool for product design.
The company offers an intuitive 3D design platform where cross-disciplinary teams can collaborate, create and review their products in a new, innovative way, sharing the same virtual space, in real time.
The latest funding round was led by Kindred Capital, together with Point Nine Capital and previous investors like Forward Partners. This brings the total amount raised by the British startup to £4.1 million.
With the fresh funds, Gravity Sketch now plans to grow its platform, making it hardware-agnostic, and offering a full suite of tools to its customers.
“Today’s investment will help us make our technology as accessible and inclusive as possible,” said CEO and co-founder of Gravity Sketch Oluwaseyi Sosanya.
“For years, product designers and engineers across a myriad of industries have been confined to technologies that aren’t fit for purpose to create and develop products for the physical world, with lengthy iterative processes causing protracted product development cycles, unnecessary costs, and a host of design frustrations,” Sosanya added.
The platform is ideal for design and engineering teams looking to boost their remote working, by improving communication among themselves and with clients.
Gravity Sketch was founded in London in 2014 by Oluwaseyi Sosanya, Daniela Paredes and Daniel Thomas with the aim of transforming the way physical products are designed, developed and brought to the market.
They have combined intuitive design software with remote-working tools so that clients can think and create in 3D, by bridging the physical gaps and time differences that come with smart-working.
Their 3D virtual reality platform aims to be easy-to-use and intuitive, allowing clients to build toolset from the ground up through gestural interaction.
Design ideas can be communicated early in the design process, allowing teams to solve any spatial and ergonomic challenges in real-time from the very beginning.
Designs can be also created and managed through different devices, and accessed in real time by several people from around the globe.
Gravity Sketch currently works with a range of virtual reality hardware like HP Reverb and VIVE, and is currently in beta for iPad, mobile and desktop.
Ford, Nissan, HP and Reebook are among the companies that have already tried the 3D design platform, which has won several awards, including the 2018 VDA Enterprise award and the 2018 Auggie Award for Best Creator & Authoring Tool.
“The acceleration of remote working in the digital design and tech space over the years has resulted in more demand than ever before for remote collaboration in the digital 3D landscape,” said Kindred Capital partner Russell Buckley.
As part of the investment, Buckley, who led the funding round for Kindred Capital, will be joining Gravity Sketch’s board.
“Having already won audiences across some of the biggest names in the industry, as well as the creative professional community at large, the team at Gravity Sketch has built a powerful set of technologies that we believe will lead to an incredible evolution in industrial and digital design.”
“The company has huge potential and we’re delighted to support Oluwaseyi, Daniela and the team as they continue to grow Gravity Sketch.”
