Strivr is an enterprise-scale virtual reality platform that powers the creation, delivery, management, and measurement of VR-based learning to optimize workforce performance. The company’s platform replicates real-world workplace scenarios to train distributed and remote employees and provides learning and assessment data to measure training effectiveness and predict outcomes. Strivr reports it has trained over 1 million workers in VR and counts customers such as Bank of America, MGM Resorts, Sprouts, Verizon, and Walmart. Incubated at Stanford and based in Santa Clara, Calif., Strivr positions immersive experiences as a core tool for skills development, engagement, and retention. The company plans to integrate its immersive learning platform with Workday Content Cloud after joining the Workday Software Partner Program, and it has joined Accenture Ventures’ Project Spotlight to accelerate enterprise adoption of VR upskilling and reskilling. Strivr began as a VR application from CEO Derek Belch’s Stanford research in 2014 and later pivoted from sports training to enterprise workplace training. Its core product combines interactive 360-degree video and computer-generated scenarios delivered via VR headsets (Oculus) to train employees. The company counts customers including Walmart (a company-wide rollout after a 2017 deal), FedEx, JetBlue, Verizon and BMW. Strivr reports 22,000 VR headsets deployed and 1.6 million training sessions logged, and it recently received a patent for using motion data to predict post-training real-world effectiveness. The team resists phone- or tablet-based alternatives, preferring headset-first experiences, and says it has addressed sanitation and customer-meeting challenges amid the pandemic. CEO Derek Belch has said the company will be prudent with its new capital. STRIVR builds virtual reality training products for employees using interactive 360-degree video. The company's content is designed to be easier to produce and less hardware intensive, enabling deployment on lower-end systems like the $199 Oculus Go. STRIVR began as a project to help the Stanford football team train in VR and has expanded into enterprise training across industries. It counts 27 Fortune 500 customers and recently partnered with Walmart, which is distributing 17,000 Oculus Go headsets across thousands of stores loaded with STRIVR training materials. The company raised $16M in a new funding round led by GreatPoint Ventures and has raised $21M to date. Management says the new capital will be used for hiring and other operational activities to scale and take on more customers. STRIVR Labs builds 360-degree, video-based VR training experiences with interactive on-screen cues that prompt trainees to make decisions in scenarios such as customer service, management and seasonal retail rushes. Its modules run on Oculus Rift headsets and gaming PCs and are designed as short supplemental lessons ranging from about 30 seconds to five minutes. The company previously focused on VR training for collegiate and professional athletics and has expanded into enterprise customers. STRIVR is profitable; CEO Derek Belch said the company has done "several million in revenue," noting the exact number was north of $10 million over the past two years. The startup completed a pilot with Walmart at 30 training centers and will deploy VR instruction at each of Walmart’s 200 U.S. Walmart Academy training centers, reaching an estimated 150,000 employees per year. Following the Walmart agreement, STRIVR has attracted interest from other corporate buyers, including a financial services company and a major auto manufacturer.

Total raised

$86M

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Apr 2022