Thursday, March 3, 2016

Blippar Closes $54 Million in Funding to Power the Future of Visual Discovery



Leading Computer Vision and Augmented Reality Technology Company Secures Series D Round as it Recruits Top San Francisco Engineering Talent and Establishes its Growing Media Business

NEW YORK/INDIA – March 2, 2016 - Blippar, Inc., a leading technology company specializing in augmented reality, artificial intelligence and computer vision, today announced the close of a $54 million Series D funding round led by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the strategic investment fund of the Government of Malaysia, which also included follow-on investment from Blippar’s existing investor base. The investment highlights Blippar’s massive growth since its 2011 launch and will support the company’s mission to give users more from the world they see by accelerating the expansion of its engineering capabilities and presence in San Francisco.

“2016 is poised to be the biggest year in Blippar’s history as we not only expand our breadth and depth as a business - across our team, technology capabilities and product offerings - but also reach new heights with our vision to become a true visual discovery engine for the physical world,” said Ambarish Mitra, Blippar Co-Founder and CEO. “This latest funding round will allow us to continue to capture top engineering talent, further grow our leading global install base, create one-of-a-kind campaigns for our brand partners, and achieve our vision for an era in which everyone has access to unlimited knowledge of the world around them, regardless of language or education.”

Since unveiling its plans to become a true visual discovery platform for the physical world in 2015, Blippar has become recognized as a leading technology company, attracting an impressive roster of computer vision and machine learning experts. With approximately 60 engineers in its San Francisco and Mountain View offices and a total of more than 300 employees across 14 global offices, Blippar will use the funding to further grow its engineering team and leverage its experience to extend the global reach of its visual-browsing capabilities with the addition of a large range of new categories and rich content.

In addition, the financing will enable Blippar to invest in its user acquisition to drive a habitual behavior. The company has already seen exponential user adoption with a global user base of over 65 million users, and partnerships with some of the biggest and most exciting media owners and brands in the world including Nestlé, Condé Nast, TIME Inc., Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Heinz, Universal Pictures, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Disney and Jaguar. As the company makes strides towards its larger vision of changing the way we interact with the world through the power of sight, increasing its user acquisition efforts will allow Blippar to expand its already impressive global footprint while also building a habitual behavior of ‘blipping’.

The company will additionally use the funding to continue growing its presence within the Education sector and build on early use-cases to become the default platform for educators seeking to empower classrooms with interactive visual learning experiences.

For more information about Blippar, please visit https://blippar.com/en/.

About Blippar
Blippar, Inc. is a leading technology company specializing in augmented reality, artificial intelligence and computer vision. Its flagship product, Blippar™, is the leading augmented reality and visual search app. Utilizing proprietary, best-in-class technology, the Blippar app enables users to instantaneously discover more about the world around them. Using the Blippar app, people can blipp ("scan") objects they’re curious about and unlock useful and entertaining content. Since launching in the UK in 2011, Blippar has expanded rapidly, partnering with some of the biggest and most exciting media owners and brands in the world -- including Nestlé, Condé Nast, TIME Inc., Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Heinz, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Anheuser Busch, and Jaguar. Blippar Inc. also includes Blippar Lab, the company’s innovation and R&D unit as well as Blippar Education, which focuses on the educational sector. In May 2015, Blippar was named to the CNBC Disruptor 50 list. To learn more, visit blippar.com



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