July 7, 2014

3D scanning firm Matterport has raised an additional $16 million in a Series B financing led by DCM Ventures, with AME Cloud Ventures also joining as a new investor.

In this round, most of its previous investors returned, including Lux Capital, Felicis Ventures, Greylock Partners, Navitas Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Rothenberg Ventures, Sling Media founder Blake Krikorian, and Crate & Barrel founder Gordon Segal.

In March, Matterport launched the first fully automated camera for creating complete, photo-realistic, 3D model of real-world spaces. Retails for $4,500, this specialized camera is targeted at professionals such as real estate photographers, property management companies, or brokerages.

This compact scanner allows users to basically point a gun and do instantaneous scan-to-model of their surrounding environment, for example a house, without point clouds in the middle.

The Matterport platform consists of three elements: The Matterport Pro 3D camera or, in the near future, smartphones, tablets running Matterport 3D Capture software; The Matterport Cloud; and software applications from Matterport and third parties that allow consumers to experience and interact with the media in 3D.

For now Matterport is building its business based on professionals, starting with markets like real estate and home-related retail. At the same time, it is also developing smartphone apps that capture and generate high quality 3D media and an app platform to enable third party developers to make use of this content.

In February 2014, Matterport showed the first complete photo-realistic room reconstruction using a Google Tango device and has been working on a production version of its mobile 3D Capture app, capable of creating 3D models of spaces or objects in real time or in the cloud, for release with the first set of Tango tablets.

"As Matterport continues down its path of innovation, the accessibility of apps through the Matterport development platform will be a key driver as their 3D capabilities move to mobile devices," said Jerry Yang, founder of AME Cloud Ventures and co-founder of Yahoo.

Matterport expects that development versions of mobile devices capable of running Matterport 3D Capture applications will be available shortly, with consumer devices launching in 2015.

Matterport is also announcing the addition of a new feature to its cloud platform. The Matterport 3D Showcase will enable online viewers to see, experience, and navigate through a space naturally. It provides a unique "dollhouse view" or top-down 3D view of the entire inside layout of a property as seen from the outside.

The idea behind Matterport platform is to bring 3D imagery to the mainstream, says the company. The technology will permit photographers and individuals to capture and/or experience immersive images without complex equipment, technical training, or high costs.

"The Matterport team has figured out a way to solve the critical technology and business model problems that have kept 3D on the fringes," said Jason Krikorian, general partner at DCM. "3D is going to happen much quicker than most people think, especially when you think of mobile devices enabled by 3D sensors and consider all of the market activity in that space. Matterport is leading the creation of that 3D future."

 

Posted in 3D Scanning

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