Revolutionary VR Shoes: Affordable Full-body Motion for Gaming
Freeaim’s VR Shoes are a practical and affordable full-body, limitless VR movement technology that will have applications beyond gaming. LONDON (18 June 2024) – Freeaim, the start-up designing wearable tech for virtual reality, announces today the closing of a £250,000 pre-seed round. The round was led by Nikolaus Oldendorff, through the Oldendorff family office, part of a global shipping and maritime firm based in Germany. Freeaim’s new pre-seed round will support the immediate launch of a developer version of the company’s flagship VR Shoes and enable the startup to scale production for a full, consumer-level release in 2025. Get Deal News in your inbox every Monday
This is a key moment for virtual reality. Its market value related to gaming is projected to grow from $16.86 billion USD in 2024 to $105.22 billion USD by 2032. Despite this, attempts to improve the physical motion aspect of virtual reality have stalled. VR companies working in locomotion tend to develop versions of sliding treadmills, which allow the user to walk in place while held on a platform that is synced up to a VR program. These treadmills and similar devices are cumbersome and often prohibitively expensive. In the enterprise market, motorised omni-directional treadmills (ODT) tend to be more effective but can cost upwards of $50,000.
Freeaim is subverting the status quo by developing wearable tech instead.
Rather than requiring a large and expensive machine to move a person, Freeaim’s omnidirectional motorised technology is built directly into the sole of its shoes. These shoes require less hardware and material than treadmills, and can go to market with a price point far more accessible in the rapidly growing VR industry. Easily stored in a box or carried in a backpack, the shoes can sync with any VR headset supported by SteamVR and will work with most PC VR games that have walkable environments. The VR Shoes feel more natural and stable, similar to walking on a gym treadmill, but in any direction while being immersed in VR.
Click here for a full list of 6,908+ startup investors in the UK