Industrial AR pioneer Daqri is currently seeking $200 million in investment

According to informed sources, Daqri, an augmented reality company based in Los Angeles, is seeking up to 200 million U.S. dollars in private investment. Sources who declined to be named said the company plans to use this investment to develop augmented reality.

Daqri introduced an astronaut-type safety helmet equipped with sensors and display technology to the market for a price of 15,000 US dollars, while providing customer service. This device is primarily aimed at industrial workers and as a tool that can increase productivity and safety, allowing workers to see and manipulate digital images, such as workflow instructions. These images will be superimposed on the real environment.

A Daqri spokesman declined to comment.

If this company really raises 200 million U.S. dollars in investment, it will become the biggest investment in this emerging field. Virtual reality technology and augmented reality technology that can overlay interactive digital images in the physical world have gained the attention of many technology companies, but these two technologies have yet to find a mature market.

Facebook's Oculus Rift, Sony, and Google are all developing related technologies and have already launched their own products to the market. Microsoft is also producing an Augmented Reality head like Daqri, whose $3,000 HoloLens head is expected to start shipping later this year.

Daqri was founded in 2010. They only publicly admitted in 2013 that they had raised $15 million in private equity.

Another mysterious startup, Magic Leap, has completed more than $1.3 billion in financing so far, and they are also developing augmented reality heads. Magic Leap's latest round of financing reached 793.5 million U.S. dollars. Investors included famous companies such as Alibaba, Google, and Qualcomm, and the company’s valuation has reached US$4.5 billion.