Apart from the Oculus Rift, there are currently six other Virtual Reality hardware projects that have been successfully funded through KickStarter.

(1) Altergaze: “Customisable, 3D printed, smartphone based Virtual Reality Goggles distributed through crowd manufacturing”

Startup founder: Liviu Berechet Antoni From: London, UK Number of backers, funding pledged: 417, £29,176 (still a few hours to go) funding goal: £25,000 Funding date: May 1 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9Dzxk5hmoM

(2) vrAse: “Turn your Smartphone into the ultimate device for Movies, Games and Augmented Reality. Huge 3D screen, everywhere and hands free”

Startup founder: Louise Bankhead, vrase.com No. of backers: 782 Funding pledged: £66,556 Funding goal: £55,000 Funding date: Oct 15 2013

(3) STEM System: “Wireless, modular motion tracking system for the most natural and intuitive interaction with video games, virtual reality, and more.”

Startup: Sixense Los Gatos, California, USA No. of backers: 2,383 Funding pledged: $604,978 Funding goal: $250,000 Funding date: Oct 12, 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux89C3YhPVc

(4) iMotion: “Play your games and control your apps with haptic feedback (available for PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and Oculus Rift). Real VR.”

Startup: Intellect Motion Los Angeles, California, USA Number of backers: 517 Funding pledged: $102,363 Funding goal: $100,000 Funding date: Oct 28, 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSE4DpzCTbc

(5) PrioVR: “PrioVR’s sensors are placed on key points of your body to capture your movements and translate them on-screen in real-time.”

Startup: YEI Technology, Portsmouth, Ohio, USA No. of backers: 854 Funding pledged: $322,103 Funding goal: $75,000  Funding date: Mar 31 2014

(6) Omni:“The Omni enables you to move naturally and freely in virtual worlds.”

Startup: Virtuix, Houston, Texas, USA No. of backers: 3,249 Funding pledged: $1,109,351 Funding goal: $150,000 Funding date: Jul 23, 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03VghV33JZs

There are two other successfully funded KickStarter hardware projects where Virtual Reality (as well as Augmented reality) gets a mention in the description, but where it is unlikely that VR would be something that the vendors see as the ‘primary functionality’.

One such project is castAR: “Bridging the physical world with the virtual worlds; 3D holographic like projections in AR, fully immersive environments in VR”

Startup founder: Jeri Ellsworth, Technical Illusions, Woodinville, Washington, USA No. of backers: 3,863 Funding pledged: $1,052,110 Funding goal: $400,000 Funding date: Nov 15, 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25llHeB7GUo

There’s another successfully funded hardware project on KickStarter that mentions VR but I think today we’d be more likely to categorise it the same way we would characterise Google Glass: as a ‘wearable’.

The title for this project in KickStarter was Voxel Vision

Startup founder: Jon Rodriguez, Epiphany Eyewear, Stanford, California, USA No. of backers: 27 Funding pledged: $5,528 Funding goal: $5,000 Funding date: September 2011.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR0Jcmqvyn8

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jonrodriguez/3d-tv-for-light-field-images-glasses-free

Finally, if there’s any room for an ‘honorable mention’ in the KickStarter VR hardware stakes, take a look at the Avegant Glyph: “A Mobile Personal Theater With Built In Premium Audio”

Startup: Avegant, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA No. of backers: 3,331 Funding pledged: $1,509,506 Funding goal: $250,000 Funding date: Feb 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv0KuyqsZys