One of the key challenges preventing the widespread use of 3D, VR, and AR technologies is that achieving scale efficiently is difficult when development teams have to account for tailoring their projects for a growing ecosystem of specific devices and then maintaining these siloed experiences. echo3D is a content management system and content delivery network that gives developers the tool to confidently build using its back-end platform technology and ensure that the user experience will be fluid throughout. Similar to what headless architecture has done for commerce, echo3D decouples the back-end from the front with server-side infrastructure, providing the tools and a network platform. By essentially streamlining the creation of and offloading the maintenance of the back end for emerging technology development, like AWS has done for servers, echo3D allows developers to get to market faster and focus on building greater user experiences on the front end. The company, which just rebranded from echoAR, already has 12,000+ developers using the platform to build, maintain, and distribute their applications through a freemium model.
AlleyWatch caught up with echo3D CEO Alon Grinshpoon to learn more about how a unified cloud infrastructure for 3D/AR/VR applications will foster widespread creation of tomorrow’s cutting edge applications, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $8M, and much, much more.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
echo3D has raised $4 million. Konvoy Ventures led our most recent round, with participation from Space Capital, Remagine Ventures, and angel investors from Datadog, GitHub, and Facebook. Previously echo3D raised funds from Remagine Ventures and Techstars (echo3D graduated Techstars’ class #158) and has received grants from Y Combinator, Verizon, and NYC Media Lab.
Tell us about the product or service that echo3D offers.
We offer a cloud platform for 3D/AR/VR that provides tools and network infrastructure to help developers & companies quickly build and deploy 3D apps, games, and content. We built a 3D-first content management system (CMS) and delivery network (CDN) and a scalable BaaS infrastructure that enables developers to build a 3D/AR/VR app backend in minutes, and allows content creators to easily manage and publish 3D content to their AR/VR app without involving development teams.
What inspired the start of echo3D?
During our time at Columbia University and by observing many AR/VR projects in development, we noticed that developers struggle to create scalable and dynamic AR/VR apps. Today’s AR/VR apps are single-user experiences with static and hard-to-update content. It’s difficult to update 3D content across different platforms which often have platform-specific specifications. Developers struggle to onboard clients since any change in the app results in endless development cycles. In order to scale the development of front-end-heavy experiences like 3D/AR/VR apps, a cross-platform backend infrastructure is needed: “the AWS of AR/VR”. We conduct interviews with developers who validated that key development tools are missing. We decided to build it for them.
How is echo3D different?
We are among the first to shine a light on the importance of backend infrastructure in a frontend-heavy ecosystem such as 3D/AR/VR. While other companies are trying to find the best horse to bet on, whether it be some AR/VR client-side SDK (ARKit vs. ARCore, etc.) or AR/VR display (mobile vs. Oculus/MagicLeap, etc), we say: don’t bet on a horse, bet on the track – invest in the network tools and infrastructure that will empower developers & content creators to build better and more scalable 3D/AR/VR apps for any and across all of these client-side technologies.
Current competitors who provide content management systems for 3D/AR/VR apps have no cross-platform support and only support their proprietary SDK. All fail to provide any content delivery network or location-based support. Unlike other solutions, we provide a cross-platform service that allows developers to code with any SDK (ARCore, ARKit, Vuforia, etc.) and for any platform (Android, iOS, HoloLens, Vive, Oculus, etc). Developers can use our cloud platform to create a backend for native 3D/AR/VR apps in a manner that is not supported by our competitors.
What market does echo3D target and how big is it?
We already serve over 12,000 registered developers using our SDKs to create real-time 3D experiences (for healthcare, entertainment, retail, gaming, training, and more) and deployed AR+5G projects with both Verizon and AT&T.
We are all about serving our fellow 3D/AR/VR developers. Out of 26.4 million developers worldwide, 8.2 million identify as AR/VR developers. These numbers are rising as the share of game developers who are currently working on AR/VR platforms worldwide is growing rapidly.
The number of potential clients with server-side needs is rising as the AR market size is predicted to reach USD $128 billion by 2028 with 2,396 AR companies already valued at an average of USD $5 million. At the same time, the global VR market, is projected to reach global revenues of USD $57.55 billion by 202
What’s your business model?
We have a freemium business model and offer subscription-based tiered pricing plans. We offer prices that fit your need, from a free individual plan, through fixed priced teams & business tiers with a free trial, to custom enterprise plans.
What are your post-COVID office plans??
Our offices are still located in SoHo as part of the Columbia Startup Lab community. However, echo3D is remote-friendly and many members of our team are currently working remotely (our dress code is corona-casual!).
What was the funding process like?
An absolute joyride! We are building a rocket ship and are very excited to have some of the seats on the ship now occupied by our friends from Konvoy Ventures, Space Capital, Remagine Ventures, and more.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
We only raise funds from firms that share our vision of a 3D-heavy interconnected world. Finding the right founder-investor fit is definitely a challenge for every startup and we are ecstatic that we were able to find people that share our vision.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Eze Vidra, Managing Partner at Remagine Ventures: “As trillion-dollar companies talk about building the Metaverse, echo3D offers developers and companies in AR, VR and gaming an easy solution to build, deploy and measure their 3D content, cross-platform and in real-time.”
Taylor Hurst, Principal at Konvoy Ventures: “We invested in echo3D because they’re building the infrastructure that will support the next generation of content. The future of the internet and the content we engage with will be interactive and immersive; current infrastructure is not built to support that future at scale.”
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Reaching more and more developers and content creators interested in creating 3D/AR/VR experiences.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Stay lean, stay strong. The post-COVID world has a lot of opportunities – taking a meeting is an easier ask to make when everything is virtual, your reach is wider in a digital event… take advantage of that while saving money on things like office space.
Stay lean, stay strong. The post-COVID world has a lot of opportunities – taking a meeting is an easier ask to make when everything is virtual, your reach is wider in a digital event… take advantage of that while saving money on things like office space.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We will use the funds raised to bolster our product offering, expand developer relations efforts, and grow our team of developers and marketers.
What’s your favorite outdoor dining restaurant in NYC
Our founders have the biggest sweet tooth! And Blue Stripes Cacao Shop is the best chocolate café in the city. Located right next to Union Square, we love stopping by Blue Stripes for all the chocolaty goodies they offer.
