Govt Approves NCoE for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Xtended Reality

The Indian government has recently approved the establishment of the National Centre of Excellence (NCoE) for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR). This initiative aims to position India as a global hub for content creation and attract foreign investments.

The NCoE will be set up in Mumbai, Maharashtra, and will function as a Section 8 Company under the Companies Act, 2013. It will offer specialized training programs, foster research and development, and support startups in the AVGC-XR sector.

This move is expected to significantly boost the media and entertainment industry, creating numerous job opportunities and enhancing India's soft power globally.

AVGC-XR sector today plays an indispensable role in the entire realm of Media and Entertainment including filmmaking, Over The Top (OTT) platforms, gaming, advertisements and several other areas including health, education and other social sectors thereby encompassing the overall structure of the country’s growth story. With rapidly evolving technology and increasing internet penetration all across the country, coupled with one of the cheapest data rates, the usage of AVGC-XR globally is poised to grow at an exponential Pace.

Ashwini Vaishnav, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, said on a social media post, "Films like RRR, Baahubali, The Lion King and Avatar have demonstrated the immense potential of animation and immersive technology!"

"India’s Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector is poised for explosive growth, with vast opportunities for employment and innovation.," the Minister said.

NCoE will also foster research and development and will bring together experts from various fields like computer science, engineering, design and art that can lead to major breakthroughs in the field of AVGC-XR.

This Centre will also extensively focus on creation of India’s IP for both domestic consumption and global outreach, overall leading to creation of content based on India’s rich historical and cultural heritage.

Further, the NCoE will function as an incubation centre by providing resources for nurturing startups and early-stage companies in the AVGC-XR field. Also, NCoE will serve not only as an academic accelerator but also a production/ industry accelerator.

The key goals of NCoE

The National Centre of Excellence (NCoE) for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) has several key goals:

1. Skill Development: Providing specialized training programs to develop a skilled workforce in the AVGC-XR sector.

2. Research and Development: Fostering innovation and research in emerging technologies related to animation, visual effects, gaming, comics, and extended reality.

3. Industry Support: Supporting startups and small businesses in the AVGC-XR sector through incubation, mentorship, and funding opportunities.

4. Global Competitiveness: Positioning India as a global hub for AVGC-XR content creation and attracting foreign investments.

5. Job Creation: Generating employment opportunities in the media and entertainment industry.

6. Cultural Promotion: Enhancing India's soft power by promoting Indian culture and creativity globally through high-quality content.

The NCoE for AVGC-XR will also position India as a content hub for providing state-of-the-art content thereby enhancing India’s soft power globally and attracting foreign investment into the Media & Entertainment Sector.

NCERT Now Deemed-to-be-University; Edu Minister Suggests AR/VR and AI Labs in 7 Regional NCERT Centres

Last Friday, Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Mr Dharmendra Pradhan, informed that NCERT has been given the status of a Deemed-to-be-University.

The minister, Mr. Pradhan, also inaugurated a new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) laboratory of the Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), a constituent unit of NCERT.

Hereafter, the 'deemed university' status will now allow NCERT to offer its own graduate, post-graduate and doctoral degrees and have autonomy in terms of introduction of programmes, course structure, conducting examinations and management, among others.

Established in 1961, NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) has been an autonomous organisation of the Government of India to assist and advise the Central and State Governments on policies and programmes for qualitative improvement in school education.

NCERT on becoming a research university will offer opportunities for global collaborations and contributions to the global educational landscape.

In addition to this, NCERT will also be developing educational material in all 22 languages with the help of software like Anuvadini.

Mr Pradhan also emphasized developing content in mother tongue. Resently, India’s Science & Technology Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh, also informed that Medical education has commenced in Hindi and soon Engineering studies will also begin in Hindi and translation of Engineering books has commenced in eight languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati & Bengali, across the country.

Further, Mr Pradhan also suggested setting up Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence labs in all 7 regional centres of NCERT. To make India the global hub of research and innovation these centres should be equipped with the latest technologies from around the world with future-ready infrastructure, he added.

The Minister also urged NCERT to standardize the Teachers’ training curriculum to NCERT in its Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE).

The Minister also informed that NCERT has developed "Jadui Pitara" — a play-based learning-teaching material tailored for children between the age group of 3-8 years.

Augmented Reality based In-Restaurant Ordering App peAR Raises INR 4.2 Cr in Pre-Series-A Led by 1Crowd and Chennai Angels

L-R Dharmin Vora (Founder),Parth Ashwin Vora (Co-Founder) ,Dhruvesh Mehta (Co-Founder)

• peAR is Augmented-Reality based in restaurant ordering app.
• The funds raised will be utilized to scale the company's current suite of solutions across geographies and to address more restaurant challenges.
• peAr is one of the only 7 startups which was incubated at Zone Startups as part of the Zone Startups 1st Pre-Accelerator program ZSI Booster.
• Inflection Point Ventures (IPV) has so far invested over INR 550 Cr across 170+ deals

peAR, one of the first startups in Asia-Pacific to make an augmented-reality based in-restaurant ordering app, has raised Rs 4.2 crore in a Pre-series A led by 1crowd and Chennai Angels and co-Led by Inflection Point Ventures (IPV). The funds raised will be utilized to scale the company's current suite of solutions across geographies and to address more restaurant challenges as well as building a suite of integrated restaurant-tech solutions.

PeAR was founded in 2019 by then-college students Dharmin Vora, Dhruvesh Mehta, and Parth Vora with the goal of developing AR-based digital assets for businesses across industries. Their vision is to change the way people view and order food inside a restaurant. peAR helps users visualize the dish before ordering, thus making sure customers have a delightful experience at the restaurant. They use Augmented Reality to solve this. Their proprietary tech to transform the food choices on the menu into 3D images has enabled them to convert boring paper menus into interactive 3D Menus. This helps restaurants upsell as the orders are also placed digitally. Restaurants can now have the valuable data they were missing out on for dine-in customers. peAR has evolved into building Toast for India. peAR is building a full-stack integrated ecosystem for 30L+ restaurants in India & emerging markets.

Mitesh Shah, Co-Founder, IPV says, “Post covid, the Horeca sector has been adopting tech on the front end to further refine the dining experience of the customers. From QR-coded menus to digital payments integration is now a norm across restaurants. However, the first POC is when shortlisting the order. Many customers are often left surprised at the food they order because a standard menu can’t show the quantity, plating, and overall look and feel of the dish. peAR has understood this gap well and using their tech, they are addressing both the front end and the back end making their app more useful for restaurant owners. 3D image projection helps customers understand their order better before placing it and it also helps restaurants gather a deep understanding of their customers’ profile and their preferences. We have seen the adoption of peAR’s tech rising steadily and decided to back the company in this round also.”

Dharmin Vora, Founder, peAR says, “Our association with IPV has been wonderful from the beginning. They have backed us time and again & this just shows their approach to back their start-ups. Their guidance & CXO members helps us create a wide pool of people whom we can connect with and learn from. They have also done a fantastic job on keeping the members active & involved in every manner. Their immense support & efforts stands out amongst all investors. "

India has over 30 Lakh+ restaurants & the dine-in market is over $40Bn. It is expected to touch $60 billion in the next 5 years. The dine-in market is 4 times larger than the delivery market or online ordering for restaurants, in India. peAR is trying to address the dine-in market & help restaurants increase their bill value, repeats, manage operations smoother & save time with their full-stack ecosystem.

peAR is currently processing over 35k+ orders monthly, across 800+ restaurant partners, doing Rs 17Cr+ annualized GTV on their ordering platform. They are a team of 45 members, building the leading AR-tech solutions for Indian restaurants to increase their business & streamline operations. They are also building an integrated stack of solutions that not only makes restaurant operations smoother but helps them increase their bottom line as well. They are also launching their full-stack ecosystem solution with loyalty, payment integrations, hardware integrations & end to end suite to manage a restaurant.

About peAR

Founded in 2019 by then college students Dharmin Vora, Dhruvesh Mehta, and Parth Vora, peAR was started to develop AR-based digital assets for enterprises across industries. We started with the restaurant dine-in industry. Customers can visit any of our partnered restaurants, Scan QR code available on the table & see the Menu in 3D & AR. Customers can order, pay bills & earn rewards via the same. We have gamified the complete ordering process, helping users have a better dine-in experience & restaurateurs earn 25-30% more revenue due to increased bill value, repeats, up-sell, cross-sell & data availability. Today, the complete dine-in process is on paper & pen & there is no data available to anyone about dine-in ordering. With our software, we are digitising the complete restaurant industry.

Inflection Point Ventures (IPV) is an angel investing platform with over 7400 CXOs, HNIs, and Professionals to together invest in startups. The firm supports new-age entrepreneurs by providing them with monetary & experiential capital and connecting them with a diverse group of investors. IPV has announced the launch of a $50 million CAT 2 AIF Physis Capital to invest in pre-Series A to Series B growth-stage start-ups.

Chess Federations FIDE, AICF and Tech Mahindra Unveils AR/VR -based App At The 44th Chess Olympiad

Viswanathan Anand, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, Dr Sanjay Kapoor, President & Bharat Singh Chouhan, Secretary General, AICF, and Jagdish Mitra, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Growth, Tech Mahindra during the launch

FIDE, AICF, & Tech Mahindra Unveil Fan Nxt.Now App at the 44th Chess Olympiad

App to drive hyper-personalised data-driven fan experiences by leveraging cutting-edge technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR)/ Virtual Reality (VR), among others

The International Chess Federation(FIDE) and the All-India Chess Federation have strengthened their partnership with Tech Mahindra, a leading provider of digital transformation, consulting, and business re-engineering services and solutions, to launch FIDE’s first ever app for iOS and Android built on digital platform, Fan Nxt.Now, on the sidelines of the 44th Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE.

Celebrating the importance and popularity of Chess in India, the launch event, held at the Olympiad venue in Mamallapuram, was graced by several eminent personalities including Chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, Dr Sanjay Kapoor, President, AICF, Bharat Singh Chouhan, Secretary General, All India Chess Federation, and Jagdish Mitra, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Growth, Tech Mahindra.

LINK for Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.techmahindra.fide.mobile.android

LINK for IOS
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/official-fide-app/id1635341083

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) is the governing body of the sport of chess, and it regulates all international chess competitions. Constituted as a non-governmental institution, it was recognized by the International Olympic Committee as a Global Sporting Organization in 1999.

Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) and Microsoft Collab To Build Mixed Reality Solutions and Services

Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik, has announced a collaboration with Microsoft for digital innovation and collaboration in healthcare services and medical education. The two organizations will work together on engagements leveraging emerging technologies in the healthcare sector, including tech-led remote healthcare solutions, patient care using mixed reality, and medical education and training.

As part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) and Microsoft India, the two organizations will also explore tech solutions using HoloLens 2 to improve healthcare delivery, mixed reality solutions for proctoring doctor and building training content for doctors, nurses, and staff through mixed reality.

Hon'ble VC MUHS Lt Gen Dr. Madhuri Kanitkar (Retd) said, "MUHS is on a pathway of a new vision and new vistas. In this regard, we are happy to collaborate with Microsoft using mixed reality to reach the unreached. We stand by our commitments towards Digital Health as a way forward aligning with the nation’s Digital India policy."

Rubén Caballero, CVP, Mixed Reality, Microsoft, said, "We are excited to work with an innovative institution like Maharashtra University of Health Science, Nashik, to expand access to healthcare services and medical education using mixed reality technologies, including HoloLens 2. We are proud to come together to help address underserved communities and expand access to healthcare to every part of India."

The year-long collaboration agreement includes the development of any solution by MUHS or any of its chosen partner(s) under the innovation lab. Microsoft will provide the tools and technologies required by MUHS to build applications in relation to the project on Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure, DevOps, collaboration suite, blockchain, IoT, analytics, AI, ML, AR, VR and Mixed Reality

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft set up its India operations in 1990. Today, Microsoft entities in India have over 13,000 employees, engaged in sales and marketing, research, development and customer services and support, across 11 Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, New Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune. Microsoft offers its global cloud services from local data centers to accelerate digital transformation across Indian startups, businesses, and government organization.

Dassault Systèmes to Showcase the Virtual Twin Experience of the Human Body at CES 2022

Dassault Systèmes will enable CES 2022 attendees to “meet” their virtual twin and see the possibilities that virtual twins of the human body bring to health care, January 5-8, 2022 in Las Vegas.

Visitors to Dassault Systèmes’ booth #8715 in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s North Hall and connect virtually, will go on a journey where they engage in three interactive experiences showcasing the virtual twin experience of the human body – the next horizon in life sciences and healthcare that makes it possible to visualize, test, understand and predict what cannot be seen, from the way drugs affect a disease to surgical outcomes before a patient is treated.

Video credits - BusinessWire

The journey begins with a volumetric light experience that, starting from a photo taken of a visitor, displays a larger-than-life virtual twin of their head. This mirror image becomes translucent until it reveals a rotatable brain that pulsates in colors and patterns symbolizing various disease states. Next, the visitor will see an animation of the heart. With every heartbeat, the virtual twin increases in size until it expands into particles revealing the silhouette of the visitor, who can dance and move to interact with their virtual twin before it dissolves into a data cloud.

The visitor will then participate in augmented reality experiences that demonstrate the Living Heart and the Living Brain – two initiatives currently being used by researchers, device manufacturers and doctors to develop highly accurate virtual models for reproducing conditions and testing treatment options. The visitor can hold, rotate, and squeeze a 3D-printed replica of a heart and a brain, each with embedded sensors and processing components, and see their actions mirrored in a virtual twin on a connected touchscreen in real time. The physical heart model measures the visitor’s heart rate, while the model’s virtual twin pulsates to match the visitor’s heartbeat and displays their heart rate on the screen. As the visitor interacts with the physical model of the brain, they can explore its hemispheres on the virtual twin, and learn more about their function.

In addition to these experiences, visitors to Dassault Systèmes’ booth can join a mock clinical trial to discover how the company’s Medidata solutions are being used in the development of the world’s top pharmaceuticals and vaccines.

For more information on Dassault Systèmes:  www.3ds.com    

For Augmented Reality Tour of the British Museum, India’s Pixel Party Teams Up with Dentsu Webchutney and VICE World News

 

India’s Pixel Party teams up with Dentsu Webchutney and VICE World News to launch ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ – an augmented reality tour of the British Museum

Instagram face filters used to scan artefacts; backed by AR technology

Immersive digital project spanned 18 months, included subject matter experts to provide a unique storytelling experience

India’s Pixel Party collaborated with Dentsu Webchutney and VICE World News to educate people about the British Museum’s disputed artefacts through a unique multimedia project, ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’. The ambitious project was conceptualised by Dentsu Webchutney and executed by Pixel Party, to create an unparalleled interactive tour of the British Museum using augmented reality technology.

For context, the British Museum has possessed various cultural treasures acquired from former British colonies for centuries. The project aimed to educate audiences about their historical significance and origins through an immersive digital experience at the British Museum itself.

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have reinvented communication across digital platforms, giving consumers experiences that are far more engaging than ever before.

For the project, Instagram AR filters were deployed to scan these artefacts and transport users back in time, with an audio narration by people from their homelands. Instagram face filter technology was repurposed for life-sized 3D artefacts. With support from a team based in London, the measurements, placements, lighting and mapping data for the artefacts were gathered remotely and developed in secrecy, unknown to the British Museum itself.

It took the team more than 4,200 minutes of physical testing at the Museum, 30 site visits and a constant effort over 18 months in the middle of the pandemic to pull off this incredible feat.

Voices of experts native to the artefacts’ countries of origin were incorporated to relay the true stories behind each artefact. The outcome was an emotive storytelling experience which offered viewers an authentic and heartfelt side of history.

Kalpit Dwivedi, Founder and Director, Pixel Party, said: “The process of creating an immersive experience was fascinating and challenging. It forced us to think out of the box and tackle unique situations, and we are proud of the result. I believe that technology enables more powerful, impactful storytelling and we decided to try this using a social platform that can build a rich experience for every user – which is how Instagram’s augmented reality filters became part of this project. Our aim was to make people more aware of their history.”

Gurbaksh Singh, Chief Innovation Officer, Dentsu Webchutney said:“We saw the Unfiltered History Tour as an opportunity to decolonize the British Museum, as the AR experience visually transports disputed artefacts to the home countries they belong to, as experts from their homelands tell true stories about how they reached the museum. Collaboration has been at the heart of this gigantic project, as plot twists kept surprising us throughout the journey - from the uncertainty surrounding the Museum shutting down during the lockdown to exhibits that were part of the first version of our tour being taken off display. But ultimately, our north star was to create a benchmark for Copy-Code-Craft coming together to create an immersive storytelling experience for everyone experiencing this campaign. Tech became a powerful tool to make our narrative more impactful and accessible.”

John Montoya, Senior Director, Audience & Content Strategy at VICE Media Group said: “The Unfiltered History Tour is an important teaching tool for our audience: we want to continue to educate them on the historic and modern inequalities that have been woven into our everyday lives, using technology to unlock a fuller experience. There is still so much to unpack about colonialism in Britain today: we hope that this project can play a part in furthering this.”

This cutting-edge video will be cited as an exciting case study in times to come.

Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM5vFG7gZ2I&t=3s

About Vice Media

VICE Media Group is a global multi-platform media company. Launched in 1994, VICE has offices across 25 countries across the globe with a focus on five key businesses: VICE.com, an award-winning international network of digital content; VICE STUDIOS, a feature film and television production studio; VICE TV, an Emmy-winning international television network; a Peabody award-winning NEWS division with the most Emmy-awarded nightly news broadcast; and VIRTUE, a global, full-service creative agency. VICE Media Group’s portfolio includes Refinery29, the leading global media and entertainment company focused on women; PULSE Films, a London-based next-generation production studio with outposts in Los Angeles, New York, Paris and Berlin; and i-D, a quarterly digital and bimonthly magazine defining fashion and contemporary culture and design.

About Dentsu Webchutney

Dentsu Webchutney India, a dentsuMB Company, ushered in the era of digital-first creative communications in India, and continues to remain the most awarded agency in the country. It was titled as one of the 'best and bravest agencies on the planet' by Contagious Pioneer 2020. By placing real people at the heart of its work, Dentsu Webchutney has blurred the line between medium and message to deliver exceptional business solutions, year after year.​Founded in 1999, and led by the most creative talent in India, the creative agency is constantly finding new ways to get ahead of the industry. ​Dentsu Webchutney is the only digital-first Indian creative agency to win at Cannes, Kyoorius, and Spikes, and is built to outperform at any level for a brand that demands change.

About Pixel Party

Pixel Party is a creative powerhouse of modern visual content creation, powered by an eclectic team of dedicated professionals ranging from creative perfectionists to technical wizards. Pixel Party is dedicated to the purpose of creating excellent communication through verticals of Advertising and Digital. The company’s in-house branded content creation services help from early stages of planning to the final stages of execution producing unique, relevant, and useful content. The team are adept at creating AR/ VR apps that offer immersive customer experience and enjoy enthralling users with the imagination of augmented and virtual reality. When it comes to exciting technology and digital ideas, Pixel Party proudly want to be the game-changers.

Metaverse and AR Builder Platform Metadome (formerly Adloid) Raises $4 Mn From Chiratae Ventures, Lenskart and Others

From the Left Prashant Sinha, Co-founder & CRO, Shorya Mahajan Co-Founder, COO and Kanav CEO & Founder, Metadome

Chiratae Ventures, with Lenskart and others, Invest $4M in Adloid, a Metaverse and AR builder platform for creators and brands

Chiratae Ventures (Formerly IDG Ventures, India), and Lenskart Vision Fund invests $4 million as part of Adloid’s pre-series-A funding, to fuel the next level of growth and product evolution. The round also saw participation from Easemytrip Co-founder Prashant Pitti, Seeders, and 100x Entrepreneur.

With this round, Adloid is rebranding to Metadome, a metaverse that will provide the no-code infrastructure to millions of creators & brands to build immersive experiences for the virtual world. The company will be expanding its product and tech teams and inviting the creator community to build a metaverse which can host 1 Billion experiences a day by 2023. It also plans to strengthen it’s customer success and delivery in North America & other geographies to support its enterprise offerings.

Metadome Metaverse

With an increasing acceptance of the virtual world, the concept of Metaverse is gaining traction among businesses and individuals. It promises to be far more immersive, interactive, and collaborative than what the internet has accomplished so far with web 2.0. Metadome is built for all virtual experiences, that allows people to create, experience, collaborate, learn, play, work, and trade virtual goods & estates, and much more.

Speaking about the development, CEO & Founder, Kanav Singla said, "With Metadome, our vision is to build a new world so satisfying where people would want to live in it and not be forced to come. It resonates with our team's life mission of solving the inherent problems of the real & virtual world. We are using our existing expertise in augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and computer vision to build a one-one mapping of the real world and creating an experience of life beyond the real world”.

Metadome, formerly Adloid, started in 2016 as one of the early players in augmented reality globally with focus of bringing life-like AR experiences to all smartphones, and has since evolved as the category leader across multiple industries with patents on compression techniques to enable the scale, empowering 30M+ AR experiences and creating a library of 100k+ 3D assets. Over the last few years, they have identified key problems in the AR/VR space and the focus has been on achieving photorealistic rendering quality and enabling that experience across the entire network of smartphones. Our dedicated team of tech, product, and design experts are working towards the shared mission of hosting 1 Billion experiences in Metadome by 2023.

Co-Founder & CRO, Prashant Sinha said, "Metadome will provide businesses newer ways of engaging their customers. The Metaverse is a persistent virtual world and shopping will be driven by 3D and Augmented Reality. The brands that work with us will be able to represent their entire portfolio and to allow Metaverse participants to truly engage with their products. For individuals and creators, the possibilities are enormous, as they will be able to interact, collaborate, learn, play, work, create, trade, transact and buy virtual goods."

Metadome is already empowering brands with AR deployments across automobile, home-decor, beauty & accessories, and consumer electronics, working with industry leaders like Hewlett Packard(HP), Tata Motors(parent company- Jaguar Land Rover), Hero MotoCorp (largest 2-wheeler OEM globally), Asian Paints, Titan Eyeplus, Royal Enfield, Cardekho and more, to create immersive 3D & AR experiences for their customers. The company has witnessed a bootstrapped journey so far and growing organically by 3x YoY.

TCM Sundaram, Founder & Vice Chairman - Chiratae Ventures said, “ We are excited by the vision the team has to enable real life like immersive experiences in the metaverse. The technology they are building continues to make strides as they add marquee names to their clientele across sectors. We believe Metadome (formerly Adloid), has the power to fundamentally change how customers interact with brands, helping brands build engaging life-like experiences. As investors, we are elated to partner with the Metadome team, who is working to bring augmented reality experiences to your smartphones & other future displays.

Co-Founder & COO, Shorya Mahajan said, “The funding will add fuel to Metadome’s research and development efforts for enhancing the core competencies. We plan to add 60+ people in our tech/product team to an existing team of 90 and we are inviting bright talents to join our mission of hosting 1 Billion experiences in Metadome by 2023."

Metadome is uniquely positioned since it has already created a sector-agnostic way of engaging users through Augmented Reality and has deep insights from empowering 30M+ AR experiences globally.

Matrimonial App, Betterhalf.ai Creates Buzz With New AR Viral Filter “My Future Partner’ at Zero Marketing Cost

The AR Filter has boosted Betterhalf.ai’s social media engagement with 477.3M impressions resulting in a 12% increase in the company’s Instagram followers.

India, August 2021: Betterhalf.ai -India’s first and only “true-compatibility” matrimony app which has no intervention from parents - has boosted its social media engagement with the deployment of a new AR Filter – ‘My Future Partner’. As part of the strategic marketing move, the company incurred ‘zero’ marketing spend for the deployment of the filter that went viral to get 477.3M impressions within 90 days of its release.

Founded in 2016, Betterhalf.ai is India’s first and only matrimony-focused app that focuses on behavioural matching criteria – compatibility matching with likes, dislikes and interests of potential partners. The app uses advanced technology to create an improved user experience in the Indian matrimony market without the direct involvement of parents. Thus, as part of its idea of offering differentiated user experience, Betterhalf.ai has deployed ‘My Future Partner’ – an AR filter which predicts how one’s future partner will look like?

If you have the ‘My Future Partner’ filter saved, you can access it by launching the app and going to the camera (top left corner). The filter only works when it detects a face on the screen. So make sure you are using your front-facing camera, and tap and hold on the filter button.

Commenting on the buzz created on Instagram, Pawan Gupta, Co-founder of Betterhalf.ai said, “People especially independent urban Indians use social media for multiple purposes. They seek connections and fun at the same time that keep them engaged online. We are thrilled to have deployed an AR viral filter that attracted a huge number of urban millennials in just no time.”

The AR Filter has grabbed the attention of more than 13.4M females and 6 M male Instagram users. Moreover, the filter got 477.3M impressions with 41.9M opens and 10.9M captures. With no marketing spend, the filter also receive 384.4K saves and 275.8K shares on Instagram. More than 45 percent of users mainly belonged to the age group of 18-24 years and 35 percent of users from 13-17 years of age group.

Betterhalf.ai app combines a modern user interface that has taken the best of western dating apps while reinventing the matrimony experience for Indian singles. It boasts the world’s fastest matching with a single click technology (US Patent) and features a premium pool of working professionals from more than 25,000 companies in India. Currently, the app has a user base of 750K urban millennials and facilitates over 2 million matches and approx 5 thousand marriages till date.

AR-based Remote Collaboration Platform Plutomen Raises Funding of $300 K from Investors

Investors are GUSEC Seed Fund, DeVX Venture Fund & HNIs

Funding is a mix of Equity & CCD

The firm is backed by JioGenNext, NASSCOM CoE & GUSEC

Plutomen Founding Team

Ahmedabad, June 23, 2021: Plutomen, an Augmented Reality (AR) based self-assistance and remote collaboration platform, today announced that it has raised funding of $ 300 k from GUSEC Seed Fund, DeVX venture Fund, and Industry-Tech focussed HNIs. The funding is a mix of equity & CCD. The funding will be deployed to build the sales & marketing team and also to extend the product team.

With experience of more than 7 years in XR (eXtended Reality – AR/VR/MR) and servicing & consulting Industrial Enterprises, Plutomen decided to work on creating solutions which empower enterprises to improve productivity, extend workforce capability, & enhance customer satisfaction. Plutomen was the finalist in Industry 4.0 (Augmented Reality) category at National Startup Awards 2020 and in Dec 2020, bagged the prestigious Manufacturing Innovation Challenge Edition 2 Award for “Real Time Quality Inspection using Augmented Reality”.

Speaking on the funding, Mr Keyur Bhalavat, Founder – Plutomen, said --

We are excited about the funding and will deploy it to further augment our sales, marketing and product teams. The product, Plutomen ARMS, is an XR (extended reality) enabled Self assistance & Remote collaboration solution that empowers enterprises & their MRO + field service teams to remotely troubleshoot, inspect, maintain complicated machineries & systems. The Funding enables us to further grow and develop the product with a broader scope of applications.

Mr Rahul Bhagchandani, Group CEO of GUSEC said, “At GUSEC, we are excited to participate in this round of Plutomen's funding through DST's NIDHI SSS (Seed Support Scheme). The company and their founders' deep understanding and appreciation of the industry issues coupled with phenomenal technology capability are helping them offer XR solutions that are truly cutting-edge and will help Indian enterprises compete better on the global scene."

Putting this in perspective, Mr Umesh Uttamchandani, Co-Founder DevX said --

We have known Plutomen as a co-worker company that made its way to JioGenNext Accelerator. We trust the capabilities of Keyur Bhalavat, Founder & CEO at Plutomen. His previous venture Oryden Techlabs was acquired by Square Yards. Plutomen has spent years developing their product and it's now their redemption time to rapidly scale riding on the back of their core product ARMS.

With Pandemic restricting the travel & movements of MRO & Field Service, business enterprises are finding difficulty in their core domains like installation, inspection, troubleshooting & maintenance. Plutomen foresaw the increase in the use cases of AR & MR based Remote Collaboration. Their Enterprise SaaS platform ARMS allows AR/MR based remote intervention in real time. The solution is built with MRO & front line workers as centre point. It is focussed on OEMs and Utility driven industries like Heavy Engineering, manufacturing, automotive, Telecom, Oil & Gas, Power & Renewables, etc… The ARMS platform enables remote intervention for maintenance, inspection, problem identification, trouble-shooting, on-the-job training etc…

About Plutomen:

Plutomen is an Augmented Reality (AR) based self-assistance and remote collaboration platform company based at Ahmedabad. Backed by JioGennext, GUSEC & Nasscom CoE, Gandhinagar, the company has more than 7 years of experience in XR. Plutomen (pluto-men.com) develops XR (thearms.io) solutions for Enterprises which empower enterprises with improving productivity, extend workforce capability, & enhance customer satisfaction.

Hero MotoCorp Partners DeepTech Startup ADLOID to Launch AR Showroom Offering Immersive Shopping Experience

Deep tech Start up enables an immersive online shopping experience for the customers of the largest two wheeler OEM globally

12th May 2021: Adloid, a deep tech company with focus in Augmented Reality has partnered with Hero MotoCorp for the launch of the first-of-its-kind immersive Augmented Reality showroom. Using its proprietary technology ADLOID has added enhanced features like hotspots, configurators, remote sales assistance, and more. This technology is revolutionizing digital buying experiences and was recently used by Tata Motors for the launch of their flagship products.

TATA Safari AR Link: https://cars.tatamotors.com/suv/safari/ar

Hero MotoCorp will now be providing a 360-degree shopping experience to its customers with the help of Augmented Reality.

Vikas Malhotra, Head - Business Solutions & Support at Hero MotoCorp said -- 

At Hero Motocorp, we were looking for an agile partner to co-create "digital buying journey" of our products, a Highly skilled and passionate team from Adloid did the job exceptionally well by providing a truly World-class solution for "Virtual Showroom, Product Configurator and AR experience for our product portfolio". Speed, agility, and dedication of the team working on the project helped us in releasing the same in a very short span of time without a single physical meeting reflecting professionalism. We look forward to more such associations with the team and wish them luck.

Speaking about the partnership, Kanav Singla, Founder & CEO of Adloid said, 

Augmented Reality is helping us move beyond inherent human limitations and present contextually relevant information to people . Our partnership with Hero Moto Corp is one such example where we are changing the way people shop and experience products online. The inherent limitation of a physical showroom is a thing of the past.

The augmented reality showroom takes digitization a step ahead by allowing customers to explore, configure and experience the Hero MotoCorp products in their homes. The experience comes with interactive hotspots and virtual sales assistance to address queries and concerns as they browse through various models.

Bootstrapped Young Startup InfiVR Providing VR/AR Training, Simulation Tech to Indian Armed Forces and Defense Organizations in the US and Middle East

InfiVR Founders

At moment, employee training, technician training, remote technician support and assistance are very boring and not scalable. It requires expensive simulators, among other hinderance,. and within this scenario problems faced by companies/organizations in their employee training, learning & development functions. Existing simulators used by large organizations be it armed forces or be it big companies are very expensive, bulky, not scalable and only limited trainees can get trained on it.

Bangalore-based InfiVR Technologies is building Virtual Reality (VR) based training solutions which solve this problem making it a lot more immersive, interesting, and affordable with ease of scaling. With the latest Augmented Reality (AR) / VR technology InfiVR is solving this problem and taking it to a new level.

InfiVR helps companies and organizations provide immersive and affordable virtual reality-based training solutions. The deeptech AR/VR startup is working with few of the leading fortune 500 companies in India and globally, and is also working with armed forces and prominent defense equipment manufacturing, aerospace companies in India, North America and Middle East.

It was when InfiVR founders -- Atish Patel and Rohal Chandrakar -- heard their friends in defense and aerospace industries criticizing obsolete technologies in simulation, training, and manufacturing processes. Alternatives available to these industries were either inadequate or prohibitively expensive and that's where InfiVR founder duo saw an opening to an opportunity.

Atish and Rohal thus then co-founded InfiVR in 2018 to provide the aerospace, defense, and manufacturing industries with cutting-edge AR/VR technology that meets or exceeds Western expectations while remaining cost-effective.

InfiVR's Defence AVR Solution

InfiVR provides high tech VR/AR training and simulation technology to Indian armed forces which were not accessible before to Indian armed forces due to very high cost. InfiVR is a unique startup to provide such cutting edge AR/VR mission critical tech to Indian armed forces.

Within a short span of 2.5 years InfiVR claims to have worked with organizations like Air Force, Navy, Army and ISRO and the young startup is now exporting and providing these tech to leading defense organizations in the US, Middle East and other friendly partner nations.

Despite being bootstrapped, InfiVR boasts to have brought down the training and infra cost of client companies by more than 65% and have helped improve overall average KPIs of training for employee by more than 76% besides increasing the trainee engagement and retention by more than 116%.

As an advice to young and future entrepreneurs, the InfiVR founders say --

Don’t aim to build a unicorn business, an entrepreneur is one who utilizes resources available to create some value and wealth. Start with aim to create value and business around it, rest things will automatically follow. There are many companies which are small which build life saving technologies and products but are not as big as e-commerce giants or home delivery businesses. What they are building is useful and critical in their own way. So aim should be to create value & wealth through some good product or service rest things will automatically follow.

Though just a 3-year old start-up, InfiVR team is into the AR/VR business for more than a decade as before establishing InfiVR, Atish and Rohal had earlier co-founded a profitable VR startup 'OoBI.in' [Out of Box Interactions], which was acquired by Newscorp-backed India’s top real estate portal. Atish claims that OoBI.in helped crack more than 300 top real estate developers across India.

InfiVR's AVR/Simulation Training Solution for Oil & Gas Industry

The global virtual reality market size was valued at USD 15.81 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.0% from 2021 to 2028. Moreover, post COVID-19 outbreak, VR technology has experienced a surge in demand due to the necessity of companies to continue their business operations remotely/virtually during this pandemic.

Bootstrapped but backed by partners/mentors with more than 30 years of experience InfiVR counts industry veterans as the startup's mentors including -- Mr. Pratyush Prasanna, a former Vice President at Paytm and founder of Plustxt, a privacy enabled text messaging system in 7 Indian languages, acquired by One97/Paytm; Mr. Puneet, an industry veteran with nearly 20 years of experience in global technology and digital consulting services and CTO for GlobalLogic.

In scale-up mode, InfiVR is now seeing 5X growth as post COVID-19 the startup has seen around 12X increase in traction received for AR/VR based training, simulations, and remote assistance solutions. Post COVID scenario has drastically changed, many organizations who were considering Virtual reality & Augmented reality technologies for R&D purposes only have now realized its power. They now want to include these technologies as their part of their mainstream processes.

In a Tips for Entrepreneurs, InfiVR founders suggest --

Don't do a startup with an aim of raising funds and then growing, funding is rare and doesn't ensure success. Try to think beyond funding, there are several other ways of running and scaling your business. Funding is something which your business would naturally ask for and that would be the most suitable time to get funded. When you are starting, always have plan B apart from funding.

TrackMyPhones Launches Street Lens to Enhance Local Search Experience

Augmented Reality app which shows places around you using your mobile camera and turns your mobile into your travel & shopping guide

Mumbai, 16 March 2021: Navigation was never so easy and the way people travel has changed significantly. Travellers are no more dependent on local people for directions and recommendations. Language is also another barrier in communication between travellers and locals. Today, travellers are highly dependent on digital mediums for navigation which is time saving and easy to use. To enhance local search, Bengaluru based startup, TrackMyPhones Mobile Solutions Pvt. Ltd. has come up with a unique app called 'Street Lens' to help local explorers, travellers, shoppers and foodies to improve their local search for new places. With Street Lens users can discover local businesses, search food joints, check ratings, read reviews, and make calls and reservations.

Street Lens is an Augmented Reality App that helps people in locating nearby places within the radius of 500 meters to 5 km by just holding the mobile camera in the direction they are heading to. The places are broadly categorized into Close by, Food, Shopping, Transport, Bank, Fuel, Religious, Emergency and Landmarks. One has to just select a category and hold the phone camera (virtual eye) in the desired direction. The app not only shows various places by holding the mobile in the direction one is heading to but it also provides ratings, directions and contact details of the place. The app saves a lot of time by presenting different places in the chosen category and allows the user to discover new places.

How does it work?

Street Lens gives dynamic information about your surroundings such as shops, restaurants, banks, ATMs, gas stations, landmarks, police stations and other points of interest, shown as virtual signs overlaid on or above the buildings.

Street Lens makes finding the best of what's around you as simple and natural as looking down a street. The app uses your mobile's camera display and device's accelerometer to reveal the best shops, restaurants, and other points of interest, so you instantly see what's in that direction. The app will show places and the distance, simply tap a place's icon to get more information and it will give the detailed address and directions using Google Maps. You can also check photos of a place or make a call or just read reviews about it. Users can also share the location with their contacts.

The app shows places in 3 modes -

1. Hold your mobile down and you will see the places around you in Google Map view.
2. Tilt again to portrait mode and you will see the list of places in list view along with the direction to each of those places.
3. Hold your mobile in landscape mode and the app works in augmented reality mode.

You can switch between these modes without tapping.

Unique offering compared to the competitors

Seamless switching from Augmented Reality to Google Maps view to List view without tapping on a button makes the app unique and different from its alternatives available on the internet. Street Lens switches the view based on how you hold your phone making it a more engaging experience. Also, most of the apps display a few places for free and ask to pay to display more than a certain limit while the Street Lens displays the maximum allowed number of places, routes, reviews, all for free.

Users can also call a Hotel / Restaurant and do reservations, call an ambulance, call a shop and much more with just one tap in details view.

Goal and the future of Street Lens

According to TrackMyPhones' founder, Mr. Srihari Karanth, "Street Lens intends to change the way we should travel around. Nowadays, people use smart phones to plan trips, check location information like a map, weather, hotel rooms, cabs, and restaurants. The main reason for using mobile applications is real-time data, geo-location, online booking systems, price comparison facility and on-time booking feature but in the current times it is more about safety precautions, which is our main goal. The app allows users to view details of unlimited number of places, check out routes to the places, see reviews, call and do reservations and much more, for free. We are working on the new updates of the app which will make it future ready and a preferred choice of travelers."

Download at Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.trackyapps.street_lens

About TrackMyPhones (Tracky Apps):

Founded in 2016, Bangalore-based start-up TrackMyPhones Mobile Solutions Pvt. Ltd. offers a suite of apps for anti-theft, remote monitoring, women safety, parental control etc. with a host of features like getting location in real-time, monitoring what apps the user have installed recently, keeping a check on kid's online activities by looking at their browser history, call logs, pictures and videos in the gallery, all online.

Thales to Deliver the World’s First Fully Integrated Unmanned Mine Countermeasures System for the Royal Navy and French “Marine Nationale”

MMCM system at sea ©Thales 

• France and the United Kingdom marked the tenth anniversary of the Lancaster House treaties by signing a joint contract for Thales to launch the production of the MMCM (Maritime Mine Counter Measures) program, under Phase 2. Phase 1 initiated in 2015 was to demonstrate and qualify the technology.
• With this contract, French and British Navies equip themselves with the world’s first fully integrated unmanned mine countermeasures system of systems.
• The system has been tested and demonstrated under real operational scenarios at sea in France and the United Kingdom.
• Thales, together with its main partners (ECA Group, L3Harris and Saab), is now awarded to deliver these systems starting from 2022 to the Navies.

Following the first phase of the program in which two demonstrators have successfully proven their operational performances at sea, France and the United Kingdom marked the tenth anniversary of the Lancaster House treaties by signing a joint contract for Thales to start the production phase of MMCM to deliver eight unmanned mine hunting systems (four for France and four for the United Kingdom). 

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201126005783/en/


With the threat of mines and improvised explosive devices present in all conflicts involving naval forces, countries need to strengthen the protection of their maritime domain, to ensure the protection of their assets and to safeguard the freedom of civil navigation. At the same time, it is essential to limit human exposure to mines. With 50 years of expertise serving navies around the world, Thales develops technologies that enable the transition from conventional solutions, such as minehunters, to unmanned solutions. The MMCM program is the first step in the renewal of the operational concept for mine warfare in France and the United Kingdom, based on the use of unmanned systems which could potentially replace traditional minehunters.

This is a step change in capability, improving performances, productivity and removing the need to place members of the armed forces in harm’s way. It strengthens the leadership of the French Navy and Royal Navy as world leaders in both mine hunting and unmanned systems in the maritime domain.

The subsystems developed for the programme by Thales and its partners include Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) to transport and connect solutions and a cutting-edge sonar (SAMDIS) offering unique Single Path Multi View capability to identify and classify threats. The SAMDIS sonar can be carried by Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) or by Towed Synthetic Aperture Multiviews (TSAM) vehicle operated from the USV. The USV can also carry a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to neutralize the threats. The entire system is remotely supervised by operators working from a Portable Operational Centre (POC) capable of controlling up to three systems in parallel at sea.

MMCM is the only proven system to offer advanced technologies, including autonomy, to improve performance and productivity thanks to the combination of unrivalled real time user experience using big data exchanges with trusted augmented artificial intelligence (A2I) to provide huge improvement of customer trust in operation clearance and increase the security of national interests. As a result of Thales’s open-architecture approach to MMCM, these new technologies can be easily integrated into the overall system, providing the navies with the opportunity to introduce new operational capabilities, in a planned way, throughout the life of the system.

After the success of the first configuration conducted under real operational conditions with the complete system, Thales is now fully committed to deliver the first operational systems to French and British navies by 2022. This program testifies of the exemplary cooperation between the two states and industrial teams and anchors Thales’s unique expertise and World leading position in conventional MCM, supporting over half the world’s anti-mine vessels with over 300 systems in service.

“Thales is grateful to France and the United Kingdom for trusting such an important technology transition with the Thales teams in France and the UK. To date during trials, the MMCM systems and its assets have covered the equivalent of 30.000 soccer fields at sea, sometimes with very rough sea conditions. This is indeed a step change in how Navies will be able to respond in the future to vicious threats such as mines and improvised explosive devices at sea.” Alexis Morel, VP Underwater Systems, Thales.

About Thales

Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global high technology leader investing in digital and “deep tech” innovations –connectivity, big data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and quantum technology – to build a future we can all trust, which is vital to the development of our societies. The company provides solutions, services and products that help its customers –businesses, organisations and states – in the defence, aeronautics, space, transportation and digital identity and security markets to fulfil their critical missions, by placing humans at the heart of the decision-making process.

With 83,000 employees in 68 countries, Thales generated sales of €19 billion in 2019 (on a basis including Gemalto over 12 months).

Kids Consumer-Tech Firm Cub McPaws Raises Pre-Series A Funding from Global Investors

Cub McPaws, the kids consumer-tech company has raised its Pre-Series A round from a syndicate of investors from US, Japan, Dubai and India. The company has raised a total of USD 800K from institutional investors and top angel investors.

Launched in December 2018 by ex-Pepperfry colleagues Abhay Bhat and Kinnar Shah, Cub McPaws is a kids consumer-tech company for Generation Alpha - kids born after 2010. The company uses its patented augmented reality technology to create an unparalleled engagement with its merchandise. The company has recorded a strong 50% MoM growth even during the COVID times.

The Pre-series A round was led by a Dubai based global family office. A syndicate of top angel investors from Japan also invested in this round. It includes Mr. Takayuki Sugiura, CEO of Circus Capital, Mr. Daisuke Takagi, Executive Director at UBS, Ms. Motoko Tanabe, Founder of HMF Corporation, Mr. Toshiro Wakimaru, ex-COO of MedPeer Inc, and Mr. Taichi Nakamura, CEO of Venex Ltd.

Existing investors including institutional investors like Samyakth Capital re-invested in this round. The company is backed by renowned investors such as Venture Catalysts, Mr. Ambareesh Murty, CEO Pepperfry, Mr. Robin Joffe, MD at Frost and Sullivan, and Mr. Anuj Golecha, co-founder Venture Catalysts.

"Cub McPaws is already a phenomenon among kids and parents across India. The new investment will help us scale our technology offering and create a complete range of products. We will explore international markets where our products have generated significant interest . We are in discussion with an ex-Facebook, Uber senior executive to head our technology team”, said Abhay Bhat, founder at Cub McPaws.

"We are already in discussions with Global Venture Capital funds for our Series A investment round. The current investment enables us to fuel growth over next few months and allows us to create a world class customer experience. Further, this will add benefits of scale, thereby increasing our gross margins significantly. Receiving this investment during such difficult times also shows the strength of our business model. "Kinnar Shah added.

“The unique and disruptive approach of Cub McPaws and its potential to easily expand globally make it an interesting investment opportunity. The team at Cub McPaws has built a fundamentally strong business and have demonstrated growth even during the tough times. The integrated technology offering, including the patented AR technology, gives it an edge over other consumer companies as it can give disproportionate growth to the brand” said Mr. Sugiura on behalf of investors.

"The confidence of existing investors reinvesting in this round stems from two important factors - the robust growth of the brand during the challenging COVID time and a loyal consumer base it has created in a short time span. Cub McPaws has thus solved the two key challenges faced by consumer brands and is ready to scale up from here", said Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma of Co-Founder & President Venture Catalysts

Venture Catalysts is India’s first integrated incubator. It invests $250K – $1.5 Million in early stage startups that have potential to create enduring value for over a long period of time. Venture Catalysts brings a lethal combination of Capital, Mentoring and Business Network to help investee companies to succeed. Their innovation provides value to startups through its extensive angel network, funding, community, services and co-working facility.

Pandemic fuels Augmented Reality (AR) buzz in Local and Global markets

• Augmented Reality” buzz shot through the roof in AC at 14x in India and 6x at the global level in AMJ’20
• Top newsmakers associated with the term include Venture Capitalist Vinod Khosla and Businessmen like Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries Ltd, Eric Yuan - CEO and Founder of Zoom Video Communications
• Wizikey Augmented Reality report reveals that AR startup named BlinkIn emerges as the Buzz Maker followed by Immaginate and Queppelin in India

The Augmented Reality Report by Wizikey, Asia’s fastest-growing PR- SAAS Startup, highlights that Augmented Reality (AR) moved center stage in the after COVID-19 world. In an analysis of a million+ news articles, AR hit its high-point in the AC era. In AMJ’20, the AR buzz index moved 14x compared to the pre-COVID index in India. The global index moved 6x compared to the pre-COVID levels. 

Top newsmakers associated with the term AR include Venture Capitalist Vinod Khosla and celebrated businessmen like Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries Ltd, Eric Yuan - CEO and Founder of Zoom Video Communications and Byju Raveendran - Founder of BYJU’s.

The report also revealed that AR association with business & technology has exploded. While BC, AR was more associated with entertainment and sports, in AC it is with Business and Technology.

Commenting on the AR report, Anshul Sushil CEO & Co-founder at Wizikey said, “AR technology is now a vaccine for a faster recovery of companies. As highlighted in the report, it’s noteworthy how the overall buzz of AR has grown in global and local markets in the age of social-distancing. The cutting-edge innovation in the AR space by global leaders and Indian startups is surely sprouting a new normal.”

According to the Wizikey AR Report, the increase in safe remote assistance, customer live walk-through, contact-less supports, visual-guided support catapulted buzz of AR amongst start-ups during the pandemic. BlinkIn emerges as the Buzz Maker followed by Immaginate and Queppelin. 

The top-drawers in the AR product category are Aarogya Setu App, Apple’s ARkit, Google’s ARCore, Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft HoloLens 2. In the BC era, Google Maps, iPhone XS/ XR, Pokemon Go, and Microsoft Zoho gained maximum buzz.

Report Methodology

Wizikey’s proprietary tech was used indexing all the category news chronologically and as per their average audience views. After this, the articles were indexed according to their headline and byline to see which organizations were mentioned the most in the indexed articles and what was the frequency of the names used. Once the top buzz-makers were identified, the volume of news made by each of them was analyzed and information was drawn on the following aspects. Their share in the cumulative amount of news created by all the top 10 participants.

The Data Analytics Team at Wizikey identified the top trending words in the AR space  through analysing 156776 from leading publications from March 2019 to June 2020. The report highlighted the buzz and buzz makers  in the AR space in the local and global market before and after the outbreak. The timeline of the news created by them and when did they get the most amount of media attention. The report does a comparative analysis of the before & after COVID-19 era to understand the overall adoption of AR in the key domains.

About Wizikey

Wizikey is a subscription-based Communication SaaS that helps businesses identify and connect with relevant media influencers and subject matter experts. With Wizikey's data intelligence, companies can create campaigns, target and engage influencers and journalists, measure and optimize to scale their brand-building efforts. Launched in 2019, it has garnered 1000+ users over 250+ businesses who have created more than 2500 stories in over 9 languages. With investors like Ajai Chowdhry (Co-founder, HCL), Alok Mittal (Co-founder and CEO, Indifi), Ambarish Raghuvanshi (ex-CFO, Info Edge), Keshav R Murugesh (CEO, WNS), Raman Roy (Chairman, NASSCOM and Chairman, Quattro), Sanjiv Bajaj (CEO, Bajaj Finserv) and the Indian Angel Fund among others, it is striving every day to ensure businesses can get the credibility and trust which they deserve.

Volkswagen and Avataar.Me Partner with Facebook, Instagram to Offer 1st-of-its-Kind Life-Size 3D Consumer Experiences

Volkswagen has partnered with Avataar.Me, to offer immersive life-size 3D experiences to its social & web consumers. The experiences were brought to life in partnership with Facebook & Instagram during the Auto Expo 2020, where users can digitally discover Volkswagen’s SUVW range on display.

Volkswagen has integrated Avataar.Me’s webAR platform allowing Volkswagen consumers to experience immersive life-size 3D AR discovery of their Auto Expo product range. Avataar.Me’s deep-learning AI platform directly converts 2D images & videos of Volkswagen to life-size 3D experiences.

Facebook & Instagram are media partners to this exciting AR engagement to facilitate reach & discovery to the target audience and drive the desired business outcomes. In a transformative experience, consumers will be able to virtually discover Volkswagen SUVW range on display at Auto Expo. With users creating and sharing their own videos, it drove organic word of mouth amplification to their social circles.

Bishwajeet Samal, Head of Marketing, Volkswagen India, said, “At Volkswagen, we always seek out to make the best of technological advancements. We are determined to showcase our brand and product proposition in an innovative manner. Our partnership with Avataar.Me for the Auto Expo 2020 revealed our vibrant New Volkswagen in an immersive life-size 3D experience. This enabled our audience from across the world to witness New Volkswagen and our SUVW portfolio while staying true to our core of being a People’s car.”

Prasanjeet Dutta Baruah, Vertical Head - Automotive, Tech & Telecom at Facebook India, said, “Facebook and Instagram are platforms where people pursue and share their passions. We have been working closely with industry leaders to enable customized solutions for them. We are thrilled to have been a part of Volkswagen’s Auto Expo 2020 journey by helping them bring alive the event experience on the Facebook family of apps, and taking it beyond the confines of the venue to auto-enthusiasts and Volkswagen lovers across the country."

Sravanth Aluru, CEO & Co-founder, Avataar.Me, said, “Volkswagen is known for its industry leadership, and we are super excited to partner with them, pioneering immersive digital AR experiences for Volkswagen fans. Our AI platform delivers an immersive discovery experience in the comfort of fans’ homes, thereby bridging the online-offline experience gap.”

About the Volkswagen brand:

Volkswagen, a leading carmaker in Europe, sells its broad model range, from the Up! to the Touareg, in more than 150 countries worldwide. The brand, globally, is forging ahead consistently with the further development of automobile production. E-mobility, smart mobility and the digital transformation of the brand are the key strategic topics for the future. In 2019, the brand unveiled its first ever e-mobility offering ID.3 for the European market, based on Volkswagen’s MEB platform. In India, Volkswagen currently offers the Polo, Ameo, Vento and Tiguan.

About Avataar.Me:

Avataar.Me is a 3D AR/AI platform powering marquee digital marketing and commerce leaders globally.
Avataar’s deep-learning AI directly converts 2D photos and videos to life-size 3D, helping brands immerse their consumers in life-size AR visual discovery - from trying an apparel, a shoe, a bag, a sunglass or a lipstick together on yourself, to trying furniture in your living room, to a life-size car in your backyard - we do it all!
Our webAR platform embeds into our brand’s websites/apps to offer plug-and-play AR experiences at scale. We are also partners with Instagram and Facebook to power social AR engagement on brand’s social accounts globally.[caption id="attachment_142202" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Image - Facebook.com/WE.AugmentedReality[/caption]

Playshifu Announces New Augmented Reality Toys at CES 2020

PlayShifu, the leading augmented reality (AR) toy company teaching foundational STEAM skills through physical and digital play, launches its newest products ahead of the 2020 International CES. New products include Shifu Tacto, three new gaming kits for Shifu Plugo and a whole new experience of its popular AR globe, Shifu Orboot, with two new planets to explore.

PlayShifu is revolutionizing the world of tomorrow by providing educational STEAM play experiences for the kids of today. As screen time continues to increase for children, the founders of PlayShifu - both parents - wanted to embrace technology as a part of their children's development and make screen time meaningful, not mindless. Shifu Orboot and Shifu Plugo, the brand’s top flagships, retain more active users for longer average periods of time beyond their purchase date compared to similar products.

PlayShifu has three flagship AR gaming experiences:

• NEW: Shifu Tacto: turns any tablet into an interactive board game


• Shifu Plugo: AR gaming system building STEAM skills through story-based challenges


• Shifu Orboot: AR-based planets to discover new eras, places, cultures and more  

Shifu Tacto ($59.99 per gaming set)

New Flagship Gaming Experience 

[gallery type="rectangular" link="none" columns="1" size="large" ids="140710,140708"]

PlayShifu’s latest product line turns any tablet into an interactive board game through augmented interactions and tactile play. Shifu Tacto enables a live connection between figurines and a digital display, combining the skills of classic board games with animated content following each move a player makes. There are three different gaming sets to choose from, and each one comes with one playboard and one companion app. Gaming sets include:

• Tacto Elements (Ages 7-12): unravel the basics of chemistry hands-on


• Tacto Laser (Ages 7-12): develop analytical thinking, creativity and spatial reasoning on interplanetary missions


• Tacto Quest (Ages 4-12): solve problems and use analytical thinking to navigate quests

Shifu Plugo ($35 per gaming kit; $49.99 for one gaming kit and gamepad)

[gallery type="rectangular" size="large" columns="1" link="none" ids="140713,140712,140711"]

Shifu Plugo is an AR-powered gaming system that consists of one gamepad, numerous interchangeable gaming kits and one companion app. Each gaming kit offers age-adaptive educational games and builds STEAM disciplines through story-based challenges.

• NEW: Plugo Tunes (Ages 4-10): increase musical intelligence, persistence and creativity while learning to play piano through color association


• NEW: Plugo Slingshot (Ages 4-10): boost physics skills with an AR-powered slingshot


• NEW: Plugo Letters (Ages 4-10): improve language, storytelling and comprehension with exciting word games and fun, hands-on play

 

Shifu Orboot ($49.99 per globe)

[gallery type="rectangular" size="large" columns="1" ids="140715,140714"]

Shifu Orboot is perfect for homeschoolers, classrooms and parents to teach kids about planets through interactive experiences. Using a touchscreen device, kids explore a physical globe through visual storytelling, music and voice interactions and in-app quizzes and challenges. Powered by the Orboot app, available in eight languages, Shifu Orboot comes with one base, one companion app and offers two new interchangeable planets, including:

• NEW: World of Dinosaurs (Ages 4+): dive into the prehistoric world to learn about more than 50 dinosaurs


• NEW: Planet Mars (Ages 7+): get to know the space missions and rovers traversing Mars.

“As we enter a new decade, PlayShifu’s latest toys will continue to positively integrate physical and digital play to develop foundational learning skills,” said Vivek Goyal, CEO of PlayShifu. “Whether your child is discovering new cultures around the world or learning physics using a catapult, our toys use the benefits of modern technology combined with tactile play to enhance the STEAM learning experience.”

New products can be ordered on the PlayShifu website in 2020 and will be on display throughout the duration of the 2020 International CES at Booth #45155 in The Sands, Halls A-D. The 2020 International CES event takes place January 7-10, 2020.

About PlayShifu

Playshifu is the leading AR toy company offering a variety of immersive, educational toys that connect the physical and digital worlds. The play experiences are specially designed for kids ages 2 to 12 years and build foundational, STEAM skills through fun. Founded in 2016 by Dinesh Advani and Vivek Goyal after they saw a need to provide meaningful digital play experiences for their kids, PlayShifu is now loved around the world. With offices in the Bay Area and Bangalore, India, PlayShifu products are available in more than 15 countries.

Reality Gaming Group set to Drive AR & Blockchain Games via £1.5m Fundraising

Reality Gaming Group, publisher of the world’s first mobile augmented reality (‘AR’) combat game Reality Clash, is embarking on a £1.5m million funding round via a ground-breaking Security Token Offering (STO), as well as traditional equity investment.

Reality Gaming Group will use the funds to accelerate the development of its flagship mobile game Reality Clash, an action-packed multiplayer shooter that combines a mobile AR platform and in-game digital asset trading marketplace using blockchain technology.

Tony Pearce, Co-Founder of Reality Gaming Group, said: “Reality Clash has proven to be a hit game with real resonance - think Pokémon Go meets Call Of Duty, with tradable player-owned assets. We’re tremendously excited to be embarking on the next phase of Reality Gaming Group’s growth. As one of the first games companies to have raised money via an ICO in 2017 and successfully delivered a blockchain based game, as outlined in our original white paper, it’s great to offer investors another pioneering way to invest via a Security Token Offering.”

In addition to supporting the development of Reality Clash, the funds raised will also be used to build new games based on the same AR and blockchain platforms, creating an ecosystem in which the tokenised in-game assets can be used.

Reality Gaming Group has teamed up with TokenMarket to launch the STO - a new, digital type of equity share offering that offers investors the same rights as ordinary shares. Ownership of the share is recorded on the blockchain, with an STO holder able to sell on their investment at any time.

Since its inception TokenMarket has helped raise hundreds of millions of pounds for startups, enabling them to transform from single digit employee firms to hundred million-dollar enterprises.

Reality Gaming Group has also announced its intention to license its twin technology platforms for use by third party developers, so they can create their own virtual worlds and blockchain-based de-centralised in-game economies:-

• The DAT Platform (Digital Asset Trading) Platform: An open-sourced blockchain toolkit that enables developers and game companies to create ‘tokenised assets’, or truly-owned in-game items such as skins, weapons, apparel and more for third party games. These items can be used across multiple games, they can be sold to friends or traded on peer-to-peer marketplaces.


• The Reality Platform: Will enable licensees to accelerate development of Augmented Reality & geo-location-enabled games for iOS and Android mobile devices. The platform also includes a pioneering Ad serving tool, allowing brands to target ads based on player locations on the map.

Ransu Solavarra, CEO of TokenMarket, said: “With the addition of 40,000 users on the Reality Clash app we have seen the company’s growth skyrocket and we are pleased to be supporting the next stage of development by offering this opportunity to our users.”

Reality Gaming Group recently joined the Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA), with board members including Ubisoft, Enjin, Ultra, Consensys, Alto.io, EverdreamSoft, Gimbl and B2Expand.

Augmented Reality Startup PlayShifu Raises $7 Mn from Chiratae, Inventus Capital and Bharat Innovation Fund

PlayShifu, the award-winning technology startup, announced today a $7 million Series A round of funding led by Chiratae (formerly IDG Ventures India), Inventus Capital and Bharat Innovation Fund (BIF). Existing investor, IDFC-Parampara Fund also participated. A pioneer in the field of creating highly engaging and immersive AR experiences for children that encourage early STEM skills, PlayShifu has an aggressive strategic plan in place to expand on its tech prowess with this round of funding.

With $8.5 million raised to date, the company’s primary focus will remain tech innovation, continued research on unique phygital interactions and new product developments. PlayShifu also plans to update current products significantly and expand the diverse retail presence from 15 countries to 30+ countries in 2020 and beyond.

"We are extremely excited to have investors who are highly focused on consumer tech, on board in our journey to make early learning fun and accessible to children around the world," said Vivek Goyal, CEO, and Co-Founder of Playshifu. "We have an exhaustive product pipeline, an incessantly creative and passionate team of innovators, and now, the right partners to make an extremely positive impact on the educational foundations of generations to come."

PlayShifu's first flagship product, Shifu Orboot (Top Image), is an AR-based globe that promises an adventure around the world. The user base has crossed 250,000 kids worldwide, but that’s not all. Orboot has seen unprecedented engagement among 4-8-year-olds. While the best of the children's apps/ toys retain approximately 8% of kids after the first month, Orboot boasts more than 40% of kids retained in the second month! In other words, the amount of time spent on the app, thanks in large part to the breadth and depth of learning, has resulted in an impressive frequency of play, and month-after-month retention equal to 4-5 times that of kids-app category benchmarks.

In less than a year, teachers and technology integrators from hundreds of schools in the US, Europe, India discovered PlayShifu and experimented with adopting the innovative products in their tech-friendly classrooms. Today, more than 65% of these schools use Orboot every week in their classes. With Orboot 2.0 launching soon (student profiles and progress tracking, teachers' portal, detailed lesson plans), this engagement will only increase from here, as PlayShifu prepares to expand its reach in schools by 10x this year.

The newest addition, Shifu Plugo, combines the charm of classic physical consoles with new-age digital interactions. Helping kids conquer STEM skills with super-fun characters, captivating storylines, and enriching tactile play, Plugo will soon replace tons of toys in your kid's toy box.

[caption id="attachment_132293" align="aligncenter" width="3741"] Shifu Plugo[/caption]

The physical consoles bring alive the alphabet, math, engineering, music, steering, and more. With two consoles available today, PlayShifu plans to introduce four more by the end of 2019. PlayShifu's global appeal is evident from the fact that they have managed a deep-rooted retail presence in key markets and countries around the world, including the US, Canada, UK, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Hong Kong, South Africa, Middle East, and Japan.

"We are experiencing incredible demand from international markets across the world, purely due to the reason that our innovative products make early learning agnostic to markets and languages. Our products make an instant connection with kids and parents alike," added Dinesh Advani, Co-Founder, and COO. "We now have the tools at our disposal to execute against an even more impactful retail strategy and presence, while we continue to strengthen our position as the segment leader and disruptor in the early learning space."

Founded in 2016, PlayShifu has offices in Bay Area and Bangalore, India. The co-founders Vivek Goyal and Dinesh Advani, graduates of Stanford GSB and IIT Kharagpur, are two dads who juggle toddlers, tech, and toys in their daily lives. They are revolutionizing the toy industry by creating groundbreaking AR experiences with a passionate pack at PlayShifu. For more information, visit the website at www.PlayShifu.com.

[caption id="attachment_132292" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Vivek (L) & Dinesh (R) at Spielwarenmesse 2019[/caption]

"PlayShifu is targeting the multi-billion dollar augmented reality industry with its unique proposition of an enriching learning environment for kids coupled with fun. Vivek and Dinesh, along with their team, have built a solid product roadmap to capture a significant market share in this segment in the US and European regions. Having backed the team early on, this round of funding will boost the product line and offer more such engaging and immersive experiences for their audience," said Karthik Prabhakar, Executive Director at Chiratae (formerly IDG Ventures India).

“We were sold on the innovative concepts PlayShifu have developed in terms of physical interactions as well as digital gameplay, both for their existing products and what they have in store,” said Rutvik Doshi, Managing Director of Inventus Capital. “The user community they have built and the high engagement their products see, prove that they have cracked the code for a delightful user experience unseen in the space,” he added.

"We strongly believe in the capability of Indian entrepreneurs to develop highly innovative products and solutions for the global market, and PlayShifu fits squarely. With their expertise in computer vision, AR technology stack, game & toy design, and storytelling, the PlayShifu team has orchestrated a magical experience through phygital smart-toys for the vast 'early learning' market, quickly making inroads in US, Europe, India, and Japan,” said Som Pal Choudhury, Partner at Bharat Innovation Fund commenting on the investment.