Founders: Ambarish Mistra (CEO), Omar Tayeb, Jess Butcher, Steve Spencer
Launched: 2011
Funding: $101 million
Valuation: N/A
Disrupting: Visual recognition, digital, mobile
Rival: Google
George Kavallines
The augmented and virtual reality market is projected to grow to $120 billion worldwide by 2020, with the augmented sector accounting for the lion's share, according to a report by Digi-Capital. That's good news for Blippar. The London-based company is an augmented reality firm that enables users to download the Blippar app and then point their phone at an object to unlock additional information, photos and interactive content. So, for instance, during a campaign that ran in the U.K., Coca-Cola teamed up with Spotify. When consumers pointed their phones at the dotted lines on a Coca-Cola can, the cans became Spotify jukeboxes, playing that day's top U.K. song at that moment on Spotify.
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The company claims more than 65 million downloads of its own branded apps and white label solutions. It has worked with more than 1,000 brands, including Coty, Nestlé, Condé Nast and Procter & Gamble. In December, Blippar began rolling out real-time facial recognition technology to its mobile app, which will one day allow users to create "Augmented Reality Face Profiles." The feature will unlock a profile if the face being scanned belongs to a person with an existing AR profile. In October, Blippar introduced Blippbuilder, a suite of AR self-service tools that enable brands, agencies and developers with no coding skills to create and design their own AR experiences.
Investors love the potential of AR and Blippar's leading spot in this growing sector. The company has raised $101 million in funding from venture firms Qualcomm and Khazanah Nasional, Malaysia's leading investment fund.
Update: This profile has been updated to clarify the availability of Blippar's facial recognition features.
