echo3D, a Cloud platform that streamlines the way 3D, AR, and VR content is stored and streamed, has secured an investment of $5.5 million led by Qualcomm Ventures, with participation from Remagine Ventures, Konvoy Ventures, and Space Capital LP.
The announcement comes on the heels of Qualcomm Incorporated’s previously announced Snapdragon™ Metaverse Fund and 6-months after echo3D’s previous $4 million raise in October 2021.
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. is “spearheading investments in XR developers and companies to help unlock the next generation of Spatial Computing.” The investment in echo3D “aligns with Qualcomm Technologies’ continual industry-defining efforts to strengthen the XR ecosystem.”
echo3D focuses on building tools and infrastructure “to help developers create lighter and faster 3D games and apps.” The cross-platform Cloud solution “stores, manages, and streams 3D content to mobile devices, browsers, game engineers, and smart camera devices anywhere while connecting all of them and extracting analytics.”
The company’s tech also “converts, compresses, and optimizes 3D models, animations, and interactive content, and streams them to any smartphone, headset, or browser.” Developers using echo3D have “built Cloud-connected games, AR advertisement campaigns, NFT marketplaces, and more.”
Alon Grinshpoon, Co-Founder of echo3D, said:
“The Metaverse is here and echo3D is building the tools and network infrastructure to support it. This is a monumental point in time for the Metaverse and the AR/VR ecosystem, and we are excited to have the support of Qualcomm Ventures as echo3D continues to build the backbone of the next Internet.”
The Metaverse market is set “to reach $783.3 billion in 2024 vs. $478.7 billion in 2020.”
This surge ‘highlights the tremendous challenge the industry still faces: providing backend infrastructure to support the 3D, AR, and VR applications running on these devices, reducing file sizes and development times, and improving usability for developers and users alike. echo3D, a Verified Solutions Partner of Unity, the world’s leading game engine, has created a 3D-first content management system (CMS) and delivery network (CDN) that allow developers to build their app backend in minutes, and allow their clients to easily publish content to the 3D games and apps without involving development teams.”
Merav Weinryb, Vice President, Qualcomm Israel Ltd. and Managing Director of Qualcomm Ventures Israel and Europe, said:
“echo3D’s 3D-first content management platform is redefining how people create 3D, AR and VR experiences. Their solution helps address the unique challenges of 3D by allowing developers and content creators to easily manage and publish 3D content to their apps in minutes. We’re excited to invest in echo3D to support the creation of next generation content enabled by Snapdragon Spaces™ technology”.
Eze Vidra, Managing Partner at Remagine Ventures, remarked:
“3D content usage is skyrocketing, but the infrastructure to create, serve and track 3D content has yet to catch up. There are big opportunities around building an infrastructure layer for the future internet. This is why Remagine Ventures is excited to continue supporting echo3D’s mission to build the cross-platform CMS and CDN for 3D content.”
As noted in the update, echo3D is a Cloud platform ‘for 3D/AR/VR that provides tools and network infrastructure to help developers and companies quickly build and deploy 3D apps, games, and content.”
The company is “backed by Qualcomm Ventures, Remagine Ventures, Konvoy Ventures, Space Capital, and Techstars, and angels from Datadog, GitHub, and Facebook, and has received grants from Y Combinator, Verizon, and NYC Media Lab.”
As mentioned in the announcement, Qualcomm Ventures, acting through Qualcomm Ventures LLC or its affiliated entities, “has been making strategic investments in technology companies that have the potential to dramatically transform our world since 2000.”
As a global investor, they look “to help entrepreneurs build revolutionary businesses that reshape the world around us.”