Unity’s $181M Series C will push its game-design tools further into AR and VR

While Pokémon Go rakes in millions of dollars with its augmented reality action, the company responsible for the tech behind the game is raising money to help build the future of AR and VR gaming.

Unity Technologies has raised $181 million in a Series C funding round. The company, which makes the Unity game-development toolkit of the same name, will use the cash to expand the capabilities of its software when it comes to VR and AR applications. Investment firm DFJ Growth led the round that also had involvement from China Investment Corporation, FreeS Fund, Thrive Capital, and Max Levchin. Analysts from Digi-Capital, Goldman Sachs, and ABI Research predict that the combined AR and VR market could generate $80 billion to $120 billion in revenue by 2020. Unity is well positioned to take advantage of that as its tools are already behind many of the VR and AR games available for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and smartphones.