Bangalore (Karnataka) [India], March 25 (ANI/NewsVoir): An array of investors, including those from the BITS Spark Angel Network, have lent their support to the Bangalore-based start-up Homingos, which is building one of the world’s first Augmented Reality (AR) based social networking platforms.
Raju Reddy, Sundi Natarajan, Jayan Ramankutty, Shivakumar Ganesan, Rahul Seth, and Srinivas Anumolu of Growth Story, and other seasoned investors, have put their faith in the team to bring in a new era of social interaction that is powered by AR.
Founded by Shourya Agarwal, Malhar Patil and Rajat Gupta, three BITS-Pilani graduates, Homingos will use the investment to expedite the development of an intelligent, scalable and seamless AR platform and camera interface. Through the Homingos camera app, users will be able to experience the wonders of AR as they connect, share, express and interact in ways that have never been seen before. The funding will also be used for user acquisition, strengthening the talent pool and creating cutting-edge tools for social sharing, which goes beyond games, filters and effects.
“The promise and passion shown by the Homingos founders places them well to achieve their aspiration of reimagining social sharing globally. I believe the Homingos team with their strong business fundamentals, deep engineering capabilities and commitment to building a world-class company are well equipped to realize their goals. I am proud to stand by them as they build a pioneering and game changing product for the world in India,” said Said Raju Reddy, Early investor and Mentor, Homingos.
“While photographs have been printed since 1839, our innovation “Smartphotos” prints videos for the first time ever. Homingos aims to become the go-to platform for social sharing and engagement in the AR-enabled world. An interface that is fast, scalable and cost-effective, the Homingos platform is designed to inspire users to connect, share and engage using AR in ways they have never done before. The backing of seasoned investors strongly underpins our proposition,” said Shourya Agarwal, Co-founder and CEO, Homingos, commenting on the funding.
User-generated content is the lifeblood of any social networking platform. One of Homingos’ early offerings, “Smartphotos” has become the new way of how people store videos in a printed photo. Any user can order a Smartphoto through the Homingos website or the mobile app, by uploading or creating a video.
A personalized thumbnail is then printed as a photograph which is delivered to the user at their home or to a physical location of their choice. Upon receiving the Smartphoto, the user can scan it using Homingos magic camera app to evoke fond memories. Along with a core operations team in Bangalore, the start-up has spread across 600 cities in India. The last five months have seen a doubling of Smartphotos scans on the platform, with overall scans exceeding half-a-million.
“Such tangible printed media makes it easy to discover and access memories which may otherwise be lost in the clutter of images stored on various devices. It also delivers a one-of-a-kind magical experience, almost like a Harry Potter moving poster. The sharing and gifting of these printed videos spread this magic, deepens emotive bonds and triggers the need to continue to connect, share and engage further,” said Rajat Gupta, Co-founder and CTO Homingos, speaking on the Smartphotos experience.
You can download the Homingos Camera App here. To get your own Smartphoto, log on to www.homingos.com.
Homingos is set up by three BITS Pilani graduates, Shourya Agarwal, Malhar Patil and Rajat Gupta, who are obsessed with creating the world’s next big Social Media Network, powered by AR technology. The team is designing new entertainment experiences, advanced intelligent interactions, and scaled adaptive computing to make AR the ubiquitous interface globally.
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