The XR technology education company recently became the 11th Glimpse Group subsidiary.
XR technology is increasingly becoming a part of the corporate landscape. As the hardware becomes more affordable and the software becomes more robust, the experiences enabled become more valuable. But, they don’t necessarily become easier to use. XR Terra is there to help.
Meet XR Terra
XR Terra was founded in 2019 as a way to train companies to be able to use the basics of XR programs so that they can more easily get started using XR technology in impactful and affordable ways. This can be done through a four-week “XR Foundations” course, or through two twelve-week “Bootcamps” focused on either design or development.
The $1499 XR Foundations: Developer course is a four-week program consisting of 24 total hours of session time designed to be taken in preparation for the bootcamps. The two $5900 bootcamps (XR Industry Bootcamp: Developer and XR Industry Bootcamp: Designer) consist of seven hours of instruction time, followed by study and work on a capstone project.
The XR Foundations course isn’t an official prerequisite for a bootcamp but includes the necessary skills and information. Each course is part-time and delivered online by “AR/VR experts.” While one course reviewer said that “the instructors are not actual teachers,” other course reviews are positive.
While the instructors may not all be teachers, XR Terra founder Hakan Satiroglu founded the company after having worked in immersive education. In an interview with ARPost, he called the move a switch from “Ed tech to Tech ed.”
“I went from working with universities or schools or publishers to working with [tech companies] where the timelines are much faster,” said Satiroglu. “What became clear to me was that we were going to have these [skills] shortages and I looked at the ‘bootcamp’ model of education.”
The first cohort of students went through a hybrid physical/virtual program but the second group was entirely online.
How XR Terra Met the Glimpse Group
XR Terra has been teaching users how to use XR technology for a couple of years now, but came onto our radar with their acquisition into the Glimpse Group (NASDAQ: VRAR). While the formal negotiations took months, the actual history is much older.
“I actually met [Glimpse Group CEO Lyron Bentovim] almost from the time that I launched XR Terra, and we explored then whether we should do something together,” said Satiroglu. “Us joining forces here in a greater capacity is just going to benefit everyone.”
Satiroglu, who served as XR Terra’s CEO through its acquisition, will now serve as the company’s General Manager, as well as Vice President of Strategy for Glimpse Group, according to a release announcing the acquisition.
“As VPS, I’m also meeting with all of the other GMs to see what I can bring in from my world,” said Satiroglu. “I will be going to a lot of companies to upskill their employees and I’m looking forward to introducing them all to the Glimpse Group subsidiaries.”
Among Glimpse Group’s 10 other subsidiaries, at least two others are directly related to education and training and at least three others are directly related to integrating XR technology into existing corporate environments. Satiroglu also expressed interest in working with the 3D modeling agency QReal, as both are based in Turkey.
XR Technology, Education, and Growth
Joining the Glimpse Group isn’t the only thing that is changing for XR Terra. In addition to endlessly adding content to its courses, the company is looking to pivot from its current business-to-consumer model to a business-to-business model.
We’ve experimented in the business-to-consumer model for the last eighteen months and I really learned a lot,” said Satiroglu. “While we did that, I was patiently waiting for the conversation [about XR technology] to be more in people’s minds… the moment is just about here for the corporate and university world.”
Quelle:
