Varjo Technologies

Varjo is a Helsinki company that builds very high resolution virtual and mixed reality headsets. Four product people out of Nokia, Microsoft and NVIDIA founded it in 2016, and the argument from the start was optical quality rather than consumer price. Displays sharp enough to read a cockpit instrument panel or identify an aircraft at simulated distance are what a training customer is paying for, and cheaper headsets cannot do it. Varjo is not a defense contractor in the conventional sense. It is a commercial extended reality company that sells hardware and software into training programs, usually through simulator integrators and primes, and it also serves engineering, research, medical and space customers. Defense is simply where the resolution argument pays off hardest, and the company states its equipment is used in more than 120 defense programs.

The current hardware line is the XR-4 Series. The base XR-4 carries a passthrough camera system Varjo describes as matching the human eye at 33 pixels per degree, with a 120 by 105 degree field of view and inside-out tracking. The XR-4 Focal Edition adds gaze-driven autofocus and raises passthrough resolution to roughly 51 pixels per degree, which matters for close-range work such as reading a checklist or handling a weapon. The XR-4 Secure Edition is manufactured in Finland, is TAA compliant, and can be ordered without wireless radios for classified facilities. Accessories cover extended cables, controllers and mounting.

Software is a smaller but necessary part of the business. Varjo Base is the companion application that drives the headsets and comes in free and professional tiers. Teleport Secure handles collaboration and shared sessions in environments where a public cloud service is not acceptable. The Integrated XR System is a validated bundle of headset, certified workstation and pre-installed software for buyers who do not want to qualify their own hardware stack, and Varjo Alpha is the professional services arm that does solutions engineering and deployment work.

The published use cases split by domain. Air covers fighter and commercial pilot training. Land covers vehicle operation, weapons handling and tactical scenarios. Sea covers navigation and shipboard weapons training. Named customers include Lockheed Martin, Rheinmetall, Boeing, BAE Systems, Lufthansa Aviation Training and the European Space Agency, alongside several air forces.

Ukraine has become the most visible deployment. Varjo headsets are integrated into Fynd Reality's Core XR training platform under Norway's Nansen Programme, contracted through the Norwegian Defence Material Agency, with an initial batch of 39 systems delivered for procedural and maintenance training across multiple vehicle types including the Leopard 2. Czech firm Dogfight Boss built an F-16 mixed reality cockpit simulator around an XR-4 headset for in-country pilot training, and Australian company Applied Virtual Simulation's Horizon Guardian counter-drone trainer uses the same headset.

Varjo has raised well over 200 million dollars across its funding rounds and remains independent and privately held. Greek defense firm THEON International took a minority position through a 5 million euro convertible loan in August 2025 as part of its THEON NEXT program. Headcount is around 180, with offices in Helsinki, Arlington in Virginia, and Munich.