Upskill raises $17.2 million to expand industrial uses of augmented reality

Augmented reality company Upskill closed on a fresh round of funding and added venture arms from Accenture and Cisco as investors, the company announced Tuesday.

The $17.2 million round for the company also included existing backers Boeing HorizonX, GE Ventures and New Enterprise Associates. 

The fresh capital comes after a 2017 in which the company moved to Tysons Corner, acquired fellow AR-for-manufacturing firm Pristine and raised a Series B.

The company makes a platform called Skylight AR that powers industrial and enterprise uses of smart glasses. The company released a new version of the product last year. It’s been growing clients both among industry and government.

“We are invested in helping people become competitive in the modern workforce,” Brian Ballard, CEO of Upskill, told Technical.ly DC in October. “There are jobs that people don’t want to do, shouldn’t do or are dangerous to do. Yet there’s a lot of areas in modern process management where a combination of man and machine working together on different pieces of the job makes a ton of sense.”

A few spots the technology is used include Boeing‘s aircraft manufacturing line and Ryder’s warehouses. Telstra Network and Construction Services is also using the technology on a trial to help connect field technicians to network equipment.

With the investment, Upskill is also forming a strategic alliance with Accenture that will help the professional services company add to its augmented reality offerings.

“Adoption of AR-enabled smart glasses, in particular, has reached an inflection point,” Rob Salvagno, Head of Corporate Development and Cisco Investments, said in a statement. “Upskill has a strong track record of delivering worker productivity, efficiency and safety-based ROI for its customers through its AR platform.”

With the new funding, the company is looking to add to its team and further develop its product.