Varjo, a maker of industrial-grade VR/XR headsets, has opened its U.S. headquarters in the D.C. metro.
The Helsinki, Finland-based company last week began operations in an Arlington office, from which it will address a growing target market in the states. It has 10 employees in customer-facing and business development roles there, and plans to hire more.
The move comes during a milestone year for 3-year-old Varjo, which brought its VR-1 device to market, launched a developer edition called the XR-1 and announced several software integrations with corporate partners. It also recently started shipping to Japan, a fast-growing market and one of 34 countries where it sells the VR-1.
“2019 has been an exciting year for us so far ... and this is just the beginning,” President and COO Timo Toikkanen said in a statement. “As we continue to expand our global footprint, through new offices, additional reseller partners and entrance into new sales markets, we look forward to delivering the innovative solutions and local support our enterprise customers need to apply VR in new and compelling ways.”
Varjo touts the VR-1 as the industry’s only human-eye resolution headset, meant for professional VR and mixed reality projects, and this year it launched a reseller program for local customer support with the device. The company says its eye-tracking technology in the headset and software bring details into 20/20 focus, even for users who wear glasses or contact lenses.
Customers using Varjo VR-1 headsets – which cost about $6,900 apiece – include giants like Saab, Airbus, Siemens and Audi. For example, Siemens uses the VR-1 for virtual reality in manufacturing facilities, Audi uses it for visualizing car designs and Saab uses it to train pilots.
The company plans to demo its tech for the D.C.-area community next week at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor.
