A Tyneside business specialising in 3D digital technology is aiming for overseas growth on the back of a fresh £1m investment.

Newcastle based Luminous XR, which is pioneering extended reality (XR) software, has raised the seven-figure sum from the North East Venture Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Mercia Ventures. The firm’s platform allows developers to create metaverse-style training programmes and simulate real-life scenarios – for example for health and safety training – and is particularly popular with clients in the energy, manufacturing and industrial sectors.

The investment will help the Toffee Factory based company to deliver on a seven-figure contract with a major Middle East oil provider, while also targeting other overseas markets, in particular the US. The company has also developed a virtual reality content authoring tool, called Flow, which will be launched in late summer and will make it easier and faster to create training content by removing the need to write code.

Luminous XR, which now employs 30 people, moved into virtual reality in 2016, ten years after launching as a 3D mapping specialist.Mercia first backed the company in 2017 and has provided a number of rounds of investment from its own funds and from the North East Venture Fund, to help Luminous XR to develop its products and grow the business. The latest funding brings the total raised to date to £3.55m.

As well as its Newcastle head office, it also has a base in Bahrain and has recently established a presence in Texas, US.

Ben Bennett, CEO of Luminous XR, said: “Luminous is used by the biggest brands in the industrial and manufacturing sectors who have the highest training standards. Our XR platform is paving the way for the adoption of Extended Reality training, providing a scalable, secure solution with many advanced features. The current funding round will now allow us to grow our sales and marketing as we expand globally.”