Vuforia isn’t a name that many people are familiar with, but it’s the most popular augmented reality platform on the market at the moment, and it has a new owner. Qualcomm was the original owner, but the company has decided to leave the augmented reality market, for unknown reasons, and sell Vuforia to PTC for $65 million. PTC is a Massachusetts-based company that specializes in design software, so Vuforia will be in good hands.
PTC today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Vuforia business from Qualcomm Connected Experiences, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated for $65 million. Vuforia is the industry’s most advanced and widely adopted augmented reality (AR) technology platform, and will enrich PTC’s technology portfolio and accelerate PTC’s strategy as a leading provider of technologies and solutions that blend the digital and physical worlds. Under terms of the agreement, PTC will acquire the award-winning Vuforia business, including the developer ecosystem. PTC is committed to continued investment in the Vuforia platform and to the ongoing support and growth of the Vuforia ecosystem. Vuforia is a mobile vision platform that enables applications (“apps”) to see and connect the physical world with digital experiences that demand attention, drive engagement, and deliver value. Today, Vuforia is supported by a global ecosystem of developers in 130 countries, and has powered more than 20,000 apps with more than 200 million app installs worldwide.