Tencent-backed startup Ultraleap has been bought for components and laid off greater than half of employees, following business struggles amid a worldwide decline in gross sales within the prolonged actuality sector.
Bristol-based Ultraleap, which is growing prolonged actuality (XR) expertise for haptics and hand monitoring and had been searching for to unload components of its enterprise for months, has now discovered consumers, based on sources accustomed to the scenario.
The corporate has agreed to promote the portion of its enterprise growing hand-tracking tech to musical instrument firm Roli, the sources stated.
Mental property surrounding the startup’s haptics and hand monitoring enterprise items has been bought to US IP financing firm SIM IP, in a deal that’s anticipated to finish in March and introduced final month.
Ultraleap additionally introduced internally that it might lay off 30 staff final Friday, leaving the corporate with round 24 remaining employees — who will be part of Roli as a part of the sale, based on sources.
Ultraleap declined to remark.
Underperforming
Since launching in 2013, Ultraleap has raised over $200m from traders together with Tencent, IP Group and British Affected person Capital, because it regarded to commercialise its tech to be used circumstances in healthcare and motoring.
However XR, a catch-all time period for immersive applied sciences like digital or augmented actuality, has confronted difficulties over the previous 12 months.
Shipments of AR and VR headsets dropped greater than 67% globally in Q1 of 2024, based on market intelligence firm the Worldwide Knowledge Company. Final 12 months, Meta discontinued its VR headset and Apple scaled again manufacturing of its personal.
Ultraleap made an preliminary spherical of layoffs in the summertime of 2024.
“Throughout 2024, the AR/VR market during which the group operates has underperformed in relation to expectations held on the year-end [in 2023],” Ultraleap stated in its most up-to-date monetary accounts, revealed October final 12 months and protecting accounts from 2023.
These accounts added that the corporate had breached the phrases of a £15m mortgage and should must promote components of its enterprise to boost funds.
Ultraleap is the most recent instance of a UK deeptech — a kind of startup growing tech rooted in scientific or engineering innovation — struggling to transform promising analysis and growth right into a strong business proposition.
In February 2024, e-van maker Arrival entered administration after lacking business targets and chip firm Graphcore was bought for lower than the practically $700m invested into it in July.
