Titanic PlayStation debut floats VR Education to €700,000 revenue

23 Jan 2019

VR Education founders David and Sandra Whelan with a VR demonstrator (centre). Image: Shane O’Neill/SON Photographic

Waterford company is playing to win in the world of virtual reality.

VR Education Holdings has reported that revenue for the first year as a publicly listed company on the London and Irish stock exchanges is expected to be in the region of €700,000.

This follows the release of Titanic VR – a showcase experience that lets users imagine themselves as survivors on the Titanic on the night of the sinking – on PlayStation on 22 November.

‘We have learned a lot in the last 12 months, and we are an even stronger team because of it’
– DAVID WHELAN

December 2018 saw Titanic VR generate revenue of €100,000, which, together with revenue from other showcase experiences and the company’s Engage platform, delivered a record figure for the month.

The company listed on the London and Irish stock exchanges last March, raising £6m in the process.

In it to win it

A previous Siliconrepublic.com Start-up of the Week and one of our 30 superb Irish start-ups to watch in 2019, the company was founded by husband-and-wife team David and Sandra Whelan. Its platform provides VR content – such as its Apollo 11 moon landing – that can be used in schools, colleges, universities, research centres and corporate training to teach any subject in a virtual environment.

“2018 was a stellar year for us. We had new product launches, notably the Engage platform, the Titanic VR experience and the BBC-commissioned Lancaster Bomber commemorative VR – the Berlin Blitz – which were all universally well received, as well as several award nominations and wins,” Whelan said. These nods included the Venice Film Festival, Royal Television Society and the Northern Ireland Programme Awards 2018.

“We also partnered with some of the leading education organisations and commercial enterprises in the world, embarked on a nationwide Intel roadshow across the US to showcase our Engage platform, and we made huge inroads internally into our next VR creations. We have learned a lot in the last 12 months, and we are an even stronger team because of it.”

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com