Tech Crunch – Former Salesforce exec Bret Taylor is teaming up with Google AR/VR vet Clay Bavor on mystery startup

When Bret Taylor announced he was stepping down as co-CEO and co-chair at Salesforce in November, it was easy to be cynical about him saying he wanted to go build again. Well, guess what? He wanted to go build again — and today he and long time Google engineering veteran Clay Bavor announced they were…

Tech Crunch – Meta’s Reality Labs lost $13.7 billion on VR and AR last year

Mentions of the “metaverse” were relatively few and far between in Meta’s quarterly earnings call this week — we counted a mere seven mentions compared to 23 for “AI” — but the company’s investment into its vision of a VR-connected social future remains colossal. Starting in 2021, Meta began breaking out its Reality Labs VR…

Tech Crunch – Proptech in Review: Investors predict slower growth in 2023

Building and owning a home has been part of human life for as long as civilization itself. But in the past few decades, the lens through which we view real estate and property development has slowly blurred. It’s not a huge stretch to say that today, as tech increasingly permeates property development and housing, few…

Tech Crunch – Gemba, a corporate VR training platform used by Coca-Cola and Pfizer, raises $18M

Gemba, an enterprise-focused virtual reality (VR) training startup used by some of the world’s biggest companies, has raised $18 million in a Series A round of funding. Gemba designs and delivers so-called virtual “masterclasses” spanning subject matters such as supply chain management and lean manufacturing, working in conjunction with experts from the respective fields to deliver…

Tech Crunch – Emperia is helping brands like Bloomingdales build shopping experiences in VR

Does the average person want to shop for apparel in virtual reality (VR)? Speaking for myself, it sounds rather cumbersome — having to plop on a headset to browse for, say, trousers as opposed to click through a few galleries. But not everyone agrees — particularly those who hope to build a business out of…

Tech Crunch – Microsoft is sunsetting social VR pioneer AltspaceVR

AltspaceVR has had a few close calls over the years, but the company that built virtual social spaces well before “metaverse” was a household word is shuttering for good this time. After announcing that it would close up shop in 2017, Microsoft intervened and the company came under the tech giant’s wing. Now, Microsoft is…

Tech Crunch – Roblox may arrive on Meta Quest later this year

It appears that Roblox, a major player in the metaverse space, could be getting its moment to shine on Meta’s virtual reality headset. According to The Verge’s Command Line newsletter, sources say that Roblox might be planning to come to Quest in late 2023. Roblox declined to comment to TechCrunch. Meta was not immediately available…

Tech Crunch – It’s like the Power Glove, but for VR

Nintendo’s Power Glove was, to quote one of the eighties’ finest films, “so bad.” The NES peripheral transfixed a generation of youngsters, only to later realize that the “bad” in this instance should perhaps have been taken a bit more literally. Nintendo ultimately sold 1 million of the things, but the technology just wasn’t there,…

Tech Crunch – With Kokomo VR meeting software, Canon takes a step away from its hardware roots

Canon has a long and deep history of being a hardware manufacturer. Most consumers know it best as a camera manufacturer, but the company has a long, deep and illustrious history in medical, office equipment, and other imaging applications. During the pandemic, a lot of its business shifted. People stopped going to offices. Sporting events…

Tech Crunch – Camera maker Canon leans into software at CES

Depending on whether you spend most of your time in hospitals, offices or in the great outdoors, when you hear ‘Canon,’ your mind will likely go to medical scanning equipment, high-end printers, or cameras. At CES this year, the 85-year-old company is leaning in a new direction, with an interesting focus on software applications. At…