The better the question.
How do you gain the upper hand in virtual reality?
Helping a start-up with big ideas secure funding
Founded in 2014, the Netherlands-based company’s Manus VR Development Kit is a high-end data glove that brings intuitive interaction to virtual reality. Manus is Latin for “hand,” and the company's glove offers full finger tracking, thumb tracking, haptic (touch) feedback, and other features that make the virtual reality experience more immersive.
The better the answer.
Getting ready for blast off
Pitching the business plan to potential investors
Stephan van den Brink, a former Tax consultant in our Eindhoven office of EY Netherlands, and his friend and co-founder, Maarten Witteveen, came up with the idea of Manus VR, and when he mentioned it to one of his colleagues, they told him about an EY-backed tech start-up boot camp called HighTechXL.
“The boot camp was fantastic,” says van den Brink, who is now CEO of Manus VR. “It was three months of intensive work, looking at everything in the lifecycle of a start-up, including seeking investment, market entry, product launch and customer research.”
At the end of the boot camp, van den Brink went up against 20 other start-ups to pitch his idea to an audience of over 150 potential investors. He secured immediate funding, which accelerated the build of his business.
“After securing the funding, EY made it easy for me to pursue my dream,” explains Stephen. “I left, so I commit all my time to Manus, but they said I could come back if things didn’t work out.”
Three years on and he is growing his business, having developed a roster of clients who use his VR gloves in the fields of medicine, rehabilitation, gaming, research and robotics. The gloves are even being used in experiments to train NASA astronauts in order to prepare them for the International Space Station.
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The better the world works.
Sky’s not the limit
Ensuring the business is on the right footing for the future
“To put it simply, I wouldn’t have been able to launch my business without the help of EY,” says van den Brink, who is now a client of ours and is focusing on a couple of simple goals in the coming years.
“The next step for us is to break into the consumer market, but it will take some time,” he says. “For that reason, and with EY’s help, I’m also focusing on making Manus VR a sustainable business that will be around for many years to come.”
