Pimax, the innovative Chinese startup renowned for its extensive field-of-view VR headsets, has recently attracted another ¥100 million (approximately $13.6 million USD) in funding, adding to its Series C round.
According to details shared by 36Kr (in Chinese), the financing was spearheaded by Zhuji Jingchuang Rong Investment Co and saw continuing support from Ivy Capital, an investor since Pimax’s $20 million Series B round back in 2020. With this latest infusion, Pimax’s total external funding has now reached $82.7 million, as per data from Crunchbase.
The company has announced that this fresh financial boost will fuel the expansion of its research and development team in the United States and help set up a new R&D group in Europe. Interestingly, the 36Kr report highlights that a significant portion—around 80%—of Pimax’s headset sales are generated outside of China.
Robin Weng, the founder of Pimax, explained to 36Kr, “Our success is largely due to our relentless pursuit of research and development, a robust product lineup, and our well-crafted global market strategy. Moreover, we’re benefiting from the global high-end VR market’s steady and swift growth.”
Since its establishment in 2015, Pimax has made a mark with its wide-field-of-view PC VR headsets, most notably the latest in their ‘Crystal’ series. They’re also venturing into the lightweight headset segment, revealing the Dream Air back in December. This new headset promises to be both slim and packed with features for PC VR users.
With a launch price of $1,900, the Dream Air is anticipated to hit the market in May 2025. Additionally, Pimax has unveiled an optional ‘Cobb’ compute unit, which includes a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip, enabling standalone VR capabilities.
Despite securing substantial funding and largely meeting their major commitments over the years, Pimax does face certain upcoming challenges. In November, they introduced a fresh payment model. This system allows users to try headsets at a reduced cost, offering a risk-free 14-day trial for either the Crystal Light or the soon-to-be-released Crystal Super. After the trial, continuing usage requires an additional one-time fee to maintain access to the necessary software.
Originally, the trial period was set for 10 days, but after feedback from the community and adherence to consumer protection laws in the EU and UK, they extended it to 14 days.
The recent introduction of Dream Air reflects Pimax’s pattern of announcing new products before fulfilling earlier promises. Initially revealed in April 2024, the Crystal Super headset was slated for a Q4 2024 release, which has now been postponed to Q1 2025.
Pimax has informed us that the first batches featuring the QLED 57 PPD optical engine are expected to ship by the end of January, with further optical engine options scheduled for release in March and April.
Regarding Dream Air’s separate computing unit, Cobb, Pimax currently has “no exact ETA.” They indicated a desire to incorporate additional features not initially mentioned in their Frontier announcement. Given Pimax’s historical approach, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more announcements before Cobb is available to customers.
