LONDON: Qualcomm is pouring huge amount into virtual reality, leading a $30 million funding round for 3D image capture and software startup Matterport.
Mountain View-based Matterport makes technology that allows for digital reconstruction of real places for viewing online or on virtual reality devices. It is focused on the real estate market right now, allowing agents to showcase properties on the Web in new ways, such as zooming in, taking accurate measurements of rooms and rearranging furniture.
Agents use a 3D camera, which gently spins to capture the colors and contours of a home or office for its real estate product. Its software then calculates dimensions and spatial relationships between objects. Matterport believes there are many potential markets for its technology, including architecture, travel, construction, advertising and journalism.
“We envision a world where an immersive photo-realistic version of every space be it a home, apartment, office, business, retail store, museum, hotel, venue or other place of interest is available to consumers on demand,” said Matterport CEO Bill Brown in a statement.
San Diego’s Qualcomm brought augmented reality to mobile devices through its Vuforia software platform, which is used by game developers to blend real world and virtual objects on screen.
In addition, Qualcomm has research projects in 3D computer vision where smartphone cameras and sensors help robots/drones automatically avoid obstacles.
With the new funding, Matterport aims to further expand its technology into virtual reality devices. It was an early participant in the Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR development programs and was one of the first companies to create an app for the Gear VR app store.
Since last year, Matterport has raised $56 million. Joining Qualcomm Ventures the company’s corporate venture capital arm in Matterport’s latest funding round are new investor GIC, as well as existing investors.
Qualcomm praised Matterport for its work in both the real estate and in virtual reality. Its future, however, could be in smartphones. Its software could help consumers automatically reconstruct 3D digital environments captured by cameras and sensors on their devices.
“As 3D sensors become mainstream in smartphones, we believe the bigger opportunity for Matterport lies in mobile,” said Patrick Eggen, senior director of Qualcomm Ventures
