Welcome to the upstart from China called Pimax founded by Weng Zhibin
Chinese startup Little Pine Technology (Pimax) founded in 2014 by Weng Zhibin, after having announced last April a crowdfunding campaign to finance the development of its first high definition VR headset (the Pimax “π” 4K VR), raised tens of millions ofPre-A series” round of financing by Ivy Capital Partners.
Ivy Capital bets on Pimax’s headset
Ivy Capital is a Chinese private equity and venture capital firm specialised in “early stage” and “growth” investments, which typically invests 50 million yuan (about 7,7 million dollars) per portfolio company.
This round of financing funds will mainly be used by Pimax to improve the strength of the team itself, the development of new products and accessories, and improve the user experience of VR tools like the headset “π”, actually the highest resolution viewer in the world of which Pimax is going to produce some branded editions for its clients, beside the consumer edition, whose production started July 19 in Jingdong plant.
Pimax VR 4K beats Oculus Rift and HTC Vive
For comparison, headsets like Oculus Rift and HTC Vive have a 2560 x 2400 pixels combined resolution, i.e. something between 2K and 4K, while the Pimax “π” 4K VR has a 3840 x 2160 pixels resolution. Their goggles weigh just 220 grams, have a field opening of 110 degrees and are equipped with two gyroscopes with only 18 milliseconds latency.
For the participants in the crowdfunding campaign, the price comes out around 1.699 yuan (about 230 euros). According to Pimax’s founder and CEO, Weng Zhibin, the startup is able to develop such a high quality headset by capitalising on the technology experience of its staff. They have previously worked on development of VR tools for hospitals and in the healthcare industry, “where the standards are higher than those of the Big Three” (Oculus Rift, HTC and Sony).
So what does the mean for "the big three"
Pimax is certainly entering into a market that is quickly going from three dominant Virtual Reality goggle players to a much wider arena. The bigger players are certainly not limited to just Oculus, HTC and Sony as other vendors like Samsung, Google, Apple and even Amazon have rumours swirling around about their next steps. Despite that, a strong product that integrates well into platforms like SteamVR and have a higher resolution will certainly have opportunity to gain traction in the marketplace. We look forward to the opportunity to try them on and provide you our own perspective soon!
Follow us for the latest and coolest devices hitting the market. And check out the Virtuix Omni. Who knows, maybe you will be putting one in your living room soon too!
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