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The global pandemic has changed the way businesses are currently operating. Due to this, many of them are moving towards remote technology solutions for clear business benefits. This is where Gleechi – a Virtual Reality training platform provider, steps in. With a massive growth in interest for its VR training offering, Gleechi helps reskill workforces and provide flexible training to remote teams. 

Gleechi raises funding

In a recent development, Stockholm-based Gleechi has raised SEK 25M (approx €2.47M) in a fresh round of funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund to accelerate and expand the Gleechi VR training platform and core technologies.

Speaking on the development, Nicklas Bergman, also an EIC Fund Investment Committee member, comments, “This strategic investment represents our continued confidence in Virtual Reality training as a vital business tool and in Gleechi to continue to deliver exciting innovations by leveraging their unique technology.”

About Gleechi

Gleechi is a software development company based in Sweden. The company has developed VirtualGrasp, a software that automates the hand animation process for game developers and industrial training scenarios. 

Developed from over eight years of research in robotics, healthcare, and industrial applications, VirtualGrasp uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide immersive training that can be applied to real-world scenarios. 

The platform uses the technology to provide natural interaction within virtual environments. Through a combination of machine learning and algorithm training, natural interaction gives participants the ability to freely interact with the virtual training scenario and learn-by-doing.

Its diverse and multicultural team brings together experience from companies such as Apple, Spotify, Sony, Edelman, and Accenture.

Transform training with Virtual Reality (VR)

Gleechi was one of the first companies to participate in the EIC Accelerator programme that drives economic growth by supporting highly innovative companies. The startup has developed VirtualGrasp technology, which is used in providing better training through Virtual Reality.

Gleechi’s VirtualGrasp technology improves Virtual Reality by offering more natural hand interaction capabilities that facilitate learning-by-doing. Customers can provide remote workforces with advanced training to improve safety and business efficiency while reducing business disruption.

José Fernando Figueiredo, an EIC Fund Investment Committee member, says, “Gleechi is a prime example of European innovation – using Virtual Reality technology to provide essential training to meet the needs of globally distributed remote workforces as well as in creating solutions for some of the major problems in the industry.”

VirtualGrasp is being applied across many different sectors and industries. The healthcare sector is using VirtualGrasp in stroke rehabilitation, where VR provides a safe environment in which patients can develop or re-learn hand-object interaction. By providing natural interaction, patients receive more effective training and faster rehabilitation.

Also, VR game developers are integrating VirtualGrasp to save development time and provide their players with better and more realistic VR gaming experiences.

Use of the funds

Jakob Way, CEO at Gleechi, says, “The ongoing global pandemic has forced a re-think in how companies work and operate. Consequently, our long-standing belief that Virtual Reality training will be increasingly adopted as a vital business tool has been radically accelerated. VR training is now solidified as a readily deployable here-and-now solution that delivers immediate benefits. We are exceptionally well-positioned to meet the demand for VR training by making our platform more accessible, complemented by unique VirtualGrasp technology that can support advanced training requirements.”

The raised capital in this round will enable Gleechi to package and offer VR training platform capabilities to address customers’ growing needs as they increasingly depend on VR technology.

Through further development in platform components, Gleechi claims it will deliver VR training as a scalable software-as-service that will make VR training widely accessible. As with expansion, the company is actively recruiting in both technology and business functions to meet the increased demand for VR training.

About EIC Fund

Established in June 2020, the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund) is an initiative of the European Commission to make direct equity and quasi-equity investments (between €500K and €15M) in European high impact and deep tech startups and scale-ups. 

The EIC Fund aims to fill a critical financing gap. Its main purpose is not to maximise financial investment returns but to have a high impact by accompanying companies with and disruptive technologies in their growth.