The Metaverse is already here, just not evenly distributed, says Lakhani
Avataar, a leading AI and Computer Vision platform focused on spatial visual discovery, has announced one of the largest fundraising in the Applied 3D/AR space, US$45 million Series B funding round which has the support of New York-headquartered Tiger Global with co-participation from existing investor Sequoia Capital India.
“More than 60% of human sensory neural processing is visual in nature, and the lack of spatial depth on flat screens today drives a big experience gap between the digital (static 2D images and videos) and the physical world experiences,” Avataar Founder and CEO Sravanth Aluru said on 7 Jan 2022.
“The digital world is undergoing a fundamental shift from static 2D content to a life-size virtual 3D world which is dynamic and super imposable onto our shared physical reality. Avataar aims to be the ‘Inside Engine’ powering many new consumer journeys in this shift.
“For the first time in history, we are now able to detect, understand, augment and manipulate consumers’ physical reality using a live camera feed. While our patented AI/CV capabilities are applicable to the overall Metaverse evolution, we have started with an upfront focus on redefining consumers’ shopping experiences.
“The platform will transform the consumer shopping experience at home on their mobile devices, through AR glasses/wearables, or even in a physical store exploring an infinite aisle of a digitally enabled catalogue,” he elaborated.
“Consumers continue to look for a better eCommerce experience, and the innovative technology created by Avataar provides a powerful plug and play solution for its customers to meet this demand. As the digital world shifts from 2D to 3D, Avataar and its talented management team are well positioned in this fast-growing market,” said Evan Feinberg, Partner at Tiger Global.
“The Metaverse is already here, just not evenly distributed. Avataar.me is leading the way in bringing scale creation capabilities to the largest brands to enable commerce – an application with tremendous promise in AR/VR environments. Sravanth, Gaurav, and Mayank have been a delight to work with and Sequoia Capital India is excited to re-iterate its commitment in their Series B round,” Sequoia India Managing Director Shailesh Lakhani said.
Avataar’s platform powers the largest global eCommerce marketplaces and leading D2C brands, shaping consumer journeys with life-sized 3D product evaluation coupled with interactive feature discovery. Avataar’s patented rendering platform offers plug and play integration into the websites and mobile apps of its client partners, and brings to life the power of spatial depth to consumers’ visual discovery via highly contextual user journeys.
Avataar’s proprietary platform acts as an ‘Inside Engine’ powering multiple user experience shifts to interactive life-size Web 3.0, also known as the Metaverse.
For example, the platform enables a consumer looking to purchase a refrigerator to drop a virtual version in their own kitchen and walk around to evaluate the look and feel in true life-size. The consumer is able to toggle between available colors, open and close the doors, and easily compare multiple refrigerator types side-by-side. Additionally, deep behavioral insights and consumer analytics are leveraged by eCommerce marketplaces that use Avataar’s platform to achieve more than 3.5x sales conversion uplift along with a significant increase in consumer average engagement time.
Avataar’s backend SuperNova platform seamlessly ingests existing 2D product images/videos across categories like furniture, electronics, large appliances, fashion, and more, and offers a plug and play front-end integration for consumer visualization of life-size 3D avataars of products at scale. The digital and digitally influenced marketplace is projected to grow to US$18 trillion by 2025, offering a monetization opportunity of more than US$50 billion over the next decade for the underlying platforms driving the 2D to 3D commerce shift.
Avataar was founded by Prashanth Aluru, Sravanth Aluru, Gaurav Baid and Mayank Tiwari, with a vision of creating a virtual life-size embodiment of our physical world that can co-exist within our physical spaces and drive a paradigm shift in visual discovery experiences globally. Today, Avataar’s platform is being used by the largest eCommerce marketplaces around the world to transform the consumer experience. fiinews.com
