Redefining Reality Since 2016 – Metaverse Technology Leader Varjo Turns Five
In 2016, Varjo set out on a mission to propel virtual and mixed reality from a technical curiosity to a revolutionary tool for professionals.
After five years, Varjo hardware and software are transforming the workflows of industry-leading companies around the world. We are proud to continue building the metaverse technology of the future together with our visionary partners.
Writer:
Timo Toikkanen
CEO, Varjo
Five years ago, limitations in hardware, software, and disappointingly lacklustre experiences had kept virtual, augmented, and mixed reality from entering our daily lives. Sub-optimal optics, low resolution, screen door effect, high latency, and more, had all prohibited users from genuinely experiencing a virtual environment as clearly as the real world.
Varjo set out to fix this. Our founding team, with decades of experience from developing ground-breaking technology products at Nokia and Microsoft, had a vision of seamlessly merging the physical and the virtual. To make this happen, virtual reality had to first match the visual clarity of the human eye.
We assembled a team of some of the world’s leading engineers, designers, opticians, and developers, and began to fast-track VR and XR technology decades beyond industry forecasts.
The first iteration of Varjo headsets, launched in 2019, brought to life our vision of human-eye resolution VR – visual clarity indistinguishable from the capabilities of natural vision – using our proprietary Bionic Display. Combined with fully integrated eye tracking technology, the visual fidelity in VR met the needs of demanding professional use for the first time.
“Varjo is pushing the boundaries of what's possible in VR fidelity.”
Timoni West - Vice President, Augmented & Virtual Reality, Unity Technologies
Removing the boundary between the physical and virtual worlds
At the same time, we were full speed ahead in developing the world’s most advanced mixed reality technology. Mixed reality allows computer-generated virtual objects and real-world physical elements to be combined into one experience – so that you can no longer distinguish what is real and what is not.
By pushing the technological boundaries with ultra-low-latency pass-through video feeds, advanced sensors, and a sophisticated imaging pipeline, Varjo was able to deliver what no other company had been able to demonstrate so far – true-to-life mixed reality.
This means realistic shadows and lights for mixed reality objects, depth awareness and occlusion, as well as the introduction of real-time chroma keying and virtual masking to populate real environments with virtual contents.
In just five years, Varjo technology is now used by Boeing for astronaut training, by Kia Motors and Volvo for automotive design and UX testing, and by Lockheed Martin and The Finnish Air Force for simulation and training, to name a few.
Our visionary clients have pushed us to go well beyond what we originally thought possible in VR/XR. Today, our industry-leading technology is the key to unlocking the next giant leap in modern workflows.
“It’s unbelievable. It feels real, guys. Honestly, it feels like there’s absolutely zero barriers between me and the virtual world. It’s completely seamless.”
– VR Flight Sim Guy - VR YouTuber
What’s next for Varjo?
If you follow technology news, you have almost certainly heard talk of the metaverse, the most impactful shift in technology since the onset of the internet. Back in June, we announced Varjo’s vision for the metaverse. We are building Varjo Reality Cloud; a platform that will enable the real and virtual worlds to merge into a single, cloud-driven experience. Allowing users to capture their reality in real-time 3D and share it with others, Varjo will enable scaling our real-world collaboration into the metaverse.
It’s been an incredible journey so far for the Varjo team. We feel privileged to continue redefining reality with our visionary customers, partners, developers, and users. We can’t wait to build the next five years of immersive computing and continue the Resolution Revolution together with all of you – across all realities.
Speaking of the future, the time has almost come to unveil something that will raise Varjo to a whole new playing field. We have made enormous strides in metaverse technology in our relatively short history, and one giant leap is just around the corner. I cannot wait to share it with you.
I highly (and I mean highly) recommend you sign up for our newsletter to be the first in the know.
Here’s to the next five years.
Timo
CEO, Varjo