‘Metaverse’ training firm raises £1m to target US market

Luminous XR – a UK business which is a pioneer in the field of extended reality (XR) software – has raised a further £1m from the North East Venture Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Mercia Ventures.

The latest investment follows the company’s success in winning a seven-figure contract from a major Middle East oil provider. It will help the Newcastle-based business to deliver the project and target other overseas markets, in particular in the US.

Luminous XR’s platform enables developers to create metaverse-style training programmes and simulate real-life scenarios, for example for health and safety training. It is particularly popular with clients in the energy, manufacturing and industrial sectors.

The company has also developed a virtual reality content authoring tool, FLOW, which will be launched in late summer and will make it easier and faster to create training content by removing the need to write code.

Founded in 2006 as a 3D mapping specialist, Luminous XR moved into virtual reality ten years later. Mercia first backed the company in 2017 and has provided successive rounds of investment from its own funds and from the NEVF to enable it to develop its products and grow the business. The latest funding brings the total raised to date to £3.55m.

Luminous XR now employs 30 staff. In addition to its Newcastle headquarters, it also has an office in Bahrain and has recently established a presence in Texas, USA.

Ben Bennett, CEO of Luminous XR, said: “Luminous is used by the biggest brands in the industrial and manufacturing sectors who have the highest training standards. Our XR platform is paving the way for the adoption of Extended Reality training, providing a scalable, secure solution with many advanced features. The current funding round will now allow us to grow our sales and marketing as we expand globally.”

Chris McCourt of Mercia Ventures added: “Luminous XR’s system enables companies to recreate real-life scenarios and offer more effective training at lower cost. With the use of virtual reality growing worldwide, companies are waking up to its potential. The latest funding will enable Ben and the team to capitalise on this trend and continue their growth by targeting the US and other global markets.”

About Mercia Ventures

Mercia Ventures is a proactive venture capital investor focused on being the first-choice partner for growth. Mercia Ventures makes equity investments of up to £10million across all sectors, with specialisms in Software, Consumer, Healthcare and Deep Tech. 

Mercia Ventures is part of Mercia Asset Management PLC and sits alongside its wider private equity, debt and proprietary balance sheet capital operations. The Group has 11 offices in the UK and Mercia Ventures’ national footprint and 48 strong investment team draws on their experiences as founders, PhD scientists, software engineers, corporate financiers and management consultants to help our partner companies successfully achieve their ambitions. Mercia Asset Management PLC currently has c.£1.4billion of assets under management and, since its IPO in December 2014, has a portfolio of over 400 start-ups from pre-seed to Series B. Mercia Asset Management PLC is quoted on AIM with the epic “MERC”.

The Group raises its own Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) Funds and details about open offers can be found through Mercia’s website.

Mercia Asset Management PLC is quoted on AIM with the epic “MERC” and includes the following wholly owned subsidiaries –

• Mercia Fund Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 524856
• Enterprise Ventures Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 183363
• EV Business Loans Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 443560

www.mercia.co.uk

About The North East Fund
The North East Fund is a suite of five venture capital and loan funds which was established in April 2018, to invest £130m in around 600 North East businesses in the period to December 2023.  The fund managers provide business development advice and investment finance to small and medium sized enterprises based in the seven Local Authority areas of North East England: Northumberland, North Tyneside, Newcastle, South Tyneside, Gateshead Sunderland and County Durham.  The programme encourages investment in and the commercialisation of new technologies, including low carbon technologies, as well as stimulating new business creation, private investment and entrepreneurialism in the North East, with a view to creating over 2,500 new jobs.  The North East Fund has overall responsibility for the programme, which is delivered through five separate funds, each managed by independent, FCA regulated fund managers.  Details of these, and up to date information on the progress of the programme, is available on The North East Fund’s website: www.northeastfund.org

The North East Fund has been established with funding from the North East of England European Regional Development Fund programme, the European Investment Bank and from returns on previous North East based, publicly supported investment funds.  It is jointly owned by the seven North East local authorities.

About the European Regional Development Fund

The North East Fund will receive up to £66,500,000 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.  The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund.  Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.

About the European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will lend up to £60,000,000 to the North East Fund programme.  The European Investment Bank is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.  For more information, visit: http://www.eib.org/about/index.htm