Interplay, which develops enterprise focused VR training tools, raises $18M Series B led by Owl Ventures and S3 Ventures
Context & Ripple Effects
Interplay's $18M Series B lands in the middle of a funding streak for enterprise VR training: Talespin raised a $15M Series B backed by Cornerstone OnDemand in early 2020, Transfr took a $12M Series A that November, and Mursion closed a $20M Series B weeks later for soft-skills practice. The category is splitting into niches — surgical training (Osso VR), human-skills rehearsal (Mursion), workforce simulations (Transfr) — and Interplay is positioning on the general enterprise training slice.
What makes the round notable is the lead investor: Owl Ventures is an education-focused fund, signaling that VR training is being underwritten as a learning-technology bet rather than a hardware or gaming one.
First-order effects
- Interplay gains capital to scale its enterprise VR training tools against better-funded niche rivals like Osso VR, which has since reached roughly $109M total raised, and Transfr at $90M.
Second-order effects
- Enterprise buyers now face a crowded vendor field across adjacent niches — soft skills, surgery, blue-collar simulation — pushing providers to differentiate by vertical rather than by the headset itself.
Third-order effects
- If the follow-on rounds in this cohort hold (Osso VR's $66M Series C, Transfr's $40M Series C), enterprise VR training consolidates into a few scaled platforms per vertical, with edtech-focused funds like Owl Ventures shaping which survive.
The trend: Venture capital is systematically funding enterprise VR training as a distinct edtech category, with Series B checks in 2020-2021 maturing into large Series C rounds by 2022-2023.