The Future of Active VR: Inside Virtuix with CEO Jan Goetgeluk

[00:00:04][music] >> Welcome to another segment of the Single Eight Sit Down. I am honored today I'm joined with Jan, CEO and founder of Virtuix. Thank you for joining us today.

[00:00:14]>> Hey Connor, thanks for having me.

[00:00:16]>> So let's start off with the investors who have just discovered Virtuix. How would you describe the company and what makes it unique?

[00:00:24]>> Yeah, we're a leader in AI-driven full-body immersive simulation.

[00:00:30]And with our core technology that is called the Omni. The Omni is an omnidirectional treadmill that lets you walk and run around in 360° inside virtual worlds. So instead of sitting down or standing up pushing a button, you're physically moving around in 360° inside inside virtual environments. Could be for gaming, entertainment, it could be for defense training and simulation, or other other applications as well.

[00:00:56]>> Okay.

[00:00:57]You've partnered with Meta. What does that partnership mean for Virtuix and why is it such an exciting opportunity?

[00:01:04]>> Yeah, yeah, that's on our on our consumer business. We just launched our Omni One for Quest product with Meta.

[00:01:10]This is a result of our collaboration, our partnership with Meta, and us being part of the certified Made for Meta ecosystem. As we launched this this Omni One for Quest product, which is compatible directly with Quest headsets and games. And you know, Meta has sold about 20 million or more Quest headsets. By recent estimates, there are about 6 million active users of Quest.

[00:01:33]Those users can now for the first time use our product, the Omni, directly with their existing headset and their game library. So it expands our addressable market with an immediate, you know, 6 million or so active users. So it's great for us and it's a great catalyst for our growth on the on the consumer side.

[00:01:51]>> That's exciting.

[00:01:53]Where do you see the biggest growth opportunity over the next few years um, as far as gaming, fitness, or anything else?

[00:02:00]>> Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned fitness cuz that's an interesting point, but our our our system for consumers is is a gaming system, but the fitness part is sort of implied cuz you are moving and running and burning calories while you game. You know, one of our users reported having lost 40 lb in 4 months using our product.

[00:02:21]And we're burning about 700 calories per hour if you play an action game on our product. So, on the consumer side, you know, that's a big focus of ours.

[00:02:28]That's the world we come from. It's a big driver of our growth, to especially with the with the meta news, the meta collaboration.

[00:02:35]Uh, but then our second big market is is defense, defense training and simulation, where we are already working with all four major branches of US military. And we're working with US Marine Corps on a VR training project.

[00:02:48]We were awarded a SBIR Phase 1 award by the US Air Force. We sold units to the US Army, the Air National Guards. We have a development agreement with the US Navy.

[00:02:57]So, we have a lot of traction in the defense space, a lot of momentum there uh, for our technology.

[00:03:03]And so, that's another big area of of growth for our company.

[00:03:07]>> Now, what are the biggest benefits for that technology being provided to the military uh, military training compared to like traditional sim simulator?

[00:03:16]>> Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, the the military has always had simulators for aircraft. They have simulators for vehicles, tanks. They've never had simulators before for ground troops, for infantry.

[00:03:29]And this is where now we come in with our technology, the Omni.

[00:03:32]Uh, soldiers can physically walk around inside mission areas. And we use AI AI-driven 3D reconstruction to very quickly turn camera footage of a real-world location into a virtual environment within hours.

[00:03:47]So, we create a futuristic virtual replica uh, of a real-world area within 2 hours uh thanks to for example take using for example drone footage.

[00:03:57]That that's unheard of. That's a revolutionary capability that we bring to the table. And then with our Omni technology, users can then physically walk around inside that area as if they're really there. Basically, explore the battlefield before we put boots on the ground. Walk the terrain before we fight on it. So, it's a revolutionary capability that that that we haven't had before.

[00:04:18]>> Another thing I found quite exciting is you recently announced work involving NASA. Could you tell us more about that and what it could lead to?

[00:04:26]>> Yeah, we just announced a collaboration with NASA and we're part we were selected to be part of their Moon and Mars mission.

[00:04:33]And the Omni One will be used for astronauts to train for deep space missions as part of their mission training environment. It's just another validation for our technology as we gain traction in the military space with a lot of military agencies as I mentioned.

[00:04:51]Now, we have NASA collaboration. Just another big name that we work with.

[00:04:54]Especially, you know, current environment, space is very exciting. We had a SpaceX IPO. Space Force is an important agency on the military side.

[00:05:03]So, just another validation point as we pursue more and larger contracts with the with the US government.

[00:05:10]>> Oh, yeah. You The amount of partnerships is just very exciting to look down the road. And having said that, what milestones should investors be watching over for the next 6 to 12 months?

[00:05:19]>> Yeah, we have a couple of big catalysts on the horizon. We have our our on the consumer side, we have a lot of growth there. We reported strong growth in the latest earnings. Now, with the meta news, the meta partnership and product, we expect that that growth to accelerate. That's on the consumer side.

[00:05:33]And on the defense side, you know, just more and bigger contracts. We've already, as I mentioned, been awarded contract and sales with a lot of the military branches, but we're pursuing bigger and bigger contracts in the space as well as M&A. We announced that we're actively pursuing acquisition targets in the defense training space around the theme of immersive training with revenues anywhere from 10 to 50 million dollars. So, we can really take our revenues to the next level and step change. So, that's another big catalyst that we're working on and we hope to announce in in in in the next few months here. So, a couple of big announcements and and catalyst on the horizon for investors both on the consumer side and the defense side to to take our our our you know, our revenues to the next level. Look, we we invite all investors to keep following our story and come aboard, you know, join us on our exciting journey ahead.

[00:06:25]>> There's no doubt that there's some value there with all those partnerships.

[00:06:29]Finally, I just want to say like what is your long-term vision for Virtuix and where do you hope the company is 5 years from now?

[00:06:36]>> Yeah, I mean, we're really uh building a technology platform and our Omni technology it's so so revolutionary that it can be used for many different applications.

[00:06:45]Today, we're focused on consumer for gaming and fitness, we're focused on defense for training and simulation.

[00:06:51]There are other verticals that are are are appearing. One is for example, the medical fields where already we have partnerships and sales with companies that are using our technology for therapy, physical therapy, rehabilitation, cognitive therapy for example, autism treatment, autism therapy for children using our technology to teach children life skills and that's just one specific aspect in the medical field. So, that's another one. And and the sky's the limit, you know, we see other other interests from industry, safety training, architectural walk-through. So, anyways, we stay focused on on the opportunities right in front of us today, which is consumer and defense, but over the long term, we're really building out a platform for various industries and and we think the sky's the limit.

[00:07:42]>> Yeah, I think you've said it best. I I definitely think like the sky's the limit with you guys.

[00:07:46]I wish you and VirtuEx the very best in the future. And I can't wait to see where it where you guys go.

[00:07:52]>> Awesome. Thank you, Connor. Appreciate it.

[00:07:54]>> Thank you.