VR leader Marxent expands Kettering location

Marxent, a leader in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies and capabilities, is expanding its Kettering offices by nearly 5,000 square feet.

Marxent Labs LLC struck a lease agreement in the fourth quarter of 2017 to expand its offices at 3100 Research Blvd. by 4,947 square feet, according to a recent Dayton market real estate report from Cushman and Wakefield.

The company has about 80 employees in Kettering, said Beck Besecker, Marxent founder and chief executive.

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”We’re doing well,” Besecker said in a phone interview Tuesday. “We’re getting ready to expand with a bunch of customers and add new people. We’re starting to go after it here.”

“The net of it is, we’re in a good market between AR and VR,” he added. “Retail is in the midst of trying to change and become much more of a service, much more experiential and so forth. So we’re in a pretty good spot.”

Recent JobsOhio metrics show that the company received a $1.5 million growth fund loan. JobsOhio is the state’s private development arm.

The company designs and deploys VR and AR technology for customers. For example, last year, Toll Brothers Inc., a Horsham, Pa.-based home builder, said it was piloting a tool to allow home buyers to use Marxent-designed VR to “see” proposed design selections in homes and to make changes in what they see.

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Based in the Miami Valley Research Park in Kettering, Marxent attracted $10 million in Series B investor funding for its work in 2016. Its investors have included Quicken Loans founder and Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert.

The company has been growing fairly steadily. In 2015, Marxent more than doubled its workforce, expanding to about 50 developers, 3-D artists and designers.

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Marxent, founded in 2011, also has offices in Tampa, Fla. and Detroit.

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