Matterport, a company set to soon launch a 3D camera and interactive viewing platform that will allow users to create digital ‘scans’ of real-world environments and share them online, has announced a $5.6m funding round.
Matterport’s camera will allow you to scan whole rooms and let others explore them via a Web browser or iPad. Some of the uses for this could be to explore a home you’re looking to buy or rent for a vacation, or to check out a restaurant you’re thinking of visiting. That said, such photo-realistic scans could have all sorts of other uses – game development being an obvious possibility.
You can try out the quality of the scans created here. They look a little jagged in places, like an artist’s rendition, but it’s definitely impressive tech. Matterport already offers its technology to other businesses, including interior space modelling company Floored.
Matterport took part in Y Combinator’s winter 2012 class and raised a $1.6 million seed round afterwards in order to develop the product. The new funding, led by Lux Capital with participation from Felicis Ventures, Red Swan Ventures, Greylock, Qualcomm Ventures and a number of undisclosed Silicon Valley angel investors, will allow the company to scale production and bring the camera to market.
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There’s no firm date for launch of the camera yet, but it’s up for pre-order at the company’s website now.
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