Oxford VR, a spinout company from the University of Oxford, has raised £3.2m with investors including Oxford Sciences Innovation, University of Oxford, Force Over Mass, RT Capital and GT Healthcare Capital Partners.
This new investment round powers the pace of company growth to bring automated immersive, clinically validated Virtual Reality (VR) technologies to market as user-centered treatments for patients with mental health problems.
Oxford VR’s first product, an automated VR treatment for height phobia, was tested this year in a large randomised controlled trial, with the results gaining global acclaim when published in the Lancet Psychiatry. The treatment is now being used in selected NHS clinics.
The latest investment round will finance an ambitious strategy of product development, led by newly appointed CEO Barnaby Perks, formerly founding CEO of Ieso Digital Health. Although Oxford VR’s first treatment is for a phobia, it is the company’s intention to tackle the full range of psychological problems.
Barnaby Perks, CEO of Oxford VR said “Our focus is on developing clinically validated, cost-effective, user-centred treatments for clinical conditions with significant impact on patients, the health system and wider economy. That means targeting complex conditions such as psychosis and social anxiety. I am delighted to lead a company that will transform mental health for millions by combining state-of-the-art immersive technology with world-class science from the University of Oxford. Professor Daniel Freeman’s research, combined with the advent of highly immersive consumer VR, means that Oxford VR can develop treatments that are faster and more effective than traditional treatments, significantly cheaper for health services to deploy, and – crucially – engaging and entertaining for users.”
Professor Daniel Freeman, Chief Clinical Officer of Oxford VR, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford and Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, led the Fear of Heights study published in Lancet Psychiatry. He states: “Instead of a real-life therapist, we used a computer-generated avatar to guide users through a cognitive treatment program for fear of heights. On average, people spent around two hours in VR over five treatment sessions. Everyone in the VR group saw their fear of heights diminish, with the average reduction being 68%. Half of the participants in the VR group had a reduction in fear of heights of over three quarters. These are amazing results: better, in fact, than could be expected with the best psychological intervention from a real-life therapist.”
Sam Gage, formerly of Sony PlayStation VR and the visualisation studio Third Floor, has also joined as Head of VR Development located at Oxford VR’s growing development office in London.
