Augmented Reality Startups Have New Incubator and Fund
Founders of Augmented Reality startups encounter very significant business and financial challenges. Many of these are directly tied to general confusion among investors and potential partners about the future of Augmented Reality. Then there’s the high level of expectation drummed up by giant tech companies like Google, Samsung and Microsoft (and regular disappointments that follow). The lack of high-quality, vendor-neutral information about the topic and the very immature ecosystem of potential partners for Augmented Reality technology and solution providers are both issues that the AREA is helping to address for companies focusing on enterprise use cases.
The list of other challenges facing startups is too long to list here. Startup incubators have a track record of addressing the need for coaching, funding and other forms of support in a compact and efficient manner. Incubators which focus on a technology sector can serve to foster collaboration, develop differentiation and help companies reach critical mass.
Super Ventures, the first incubator and seed fund for early stage Augmented Reality technology startups, has been established in the Silicon Valley. In the press release issued by the fund, the founders announced that they will invest $10M in companies they select. The partners of the new venture, Ori Inbar, Matt Miesnieks, Tom Emrich and Professor Mark Billinghurst, will be providing hands-on guidance and support to foster the growth of their young portfolio of companies.
The first investments announced by the fund are with Waygo, a visual translation app (similar to WordLens which was acquired by Google) specializing in Asian languages, and Fringefy, a visual search engine that helps people discover local content and services.