Loft Dynamics, a Swiss startup creating digital actuality (VR) simulation know-how for helicopter pilots, has raised $20 million in funding from U.S. enterprise capital (VC) corporations together with David Sacks’ Craft Ventures, Sky Dayton, and Up Ventures.
Alongside the funding, the corporate can also be formally saying its name-change from VRM Switzerland.
Founded out of Zurich in 2016, Loft Dynamics has developed a slew of simulators for a few of the most typical helicopters, together with the only turbine Airbus H125. Through this, budding pilots can have interaction in real looking coaching situations together with night-time flying and carryi out proficiency checks, with force-feedback to simulate system failures and different points.
On prime of that, pilots can even now obtain coaching credit for time spent in a simulator, after the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) approved Loft Dynamics’ Airbus H125 flight coaching machine again in May.
Loft Dynamics: H125 VR simulator
The firm says that its platform goes a way towards addressing the worldwide pilot scarcity, an issue exacerbated by the pandemic as pilots elected to go for early retirement or change careers, because it opens up extra coaching alternatives and reduces most of the prices concerned in going out in an actual helicopter.
Moreover, Loft Dynamics says that as a result of its simulators are round one-tenth of the dimensions of conventional simulators, they’re simpler to deploy at scale with out requiring purpose-built amenities.
Other corporations are utilizing VR simulation to deal with comparable workforce scarcity issues or in any other case improve current coaching applications. VRAI, for instance, is creating know-how to help coaching for the offshore wind business, whereas FundamentalVR lately raised $20 million to assist practice surgeons by means of VR.
Loft Dynamics
With one other $20 million within the financial institution and a brand new identify, Loft Dynamics is now well-positioned to increase outdoors of Europe and into the profitable U.S. market.
“After many years in development, we are ready to expand Loft Dynamics to become a global company and bring our technology and training solutions to the world,” Loft Dynamics’ cofounder and CEO Fabi Riesen mentioned in a press launch. “This funding comes at exactly the right moment as we will be able to meet the escalating demand for flight schools and accelerate the range of aircraft types we support.”