‘Avataar.me’ Deploys AR To Provide A Contactless Experience
Reports have suggested that Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) needs have been surging over the days, especially during the pandemic. This startup believes AR would craft out a bright future.
How do you think the AR sector will upsurge in the near future?
Pre-COVID the estimates for the Marketing and Commerce AR were around USD 2 Bn in 2020 and are estimated to reach USD 20 Bn by 2023. We expect the trend to accelerate further post covid as there has never been a greater need to bridge the online and offline experience gap. With ‘contactless’ to be a new normal, consumers will demand contactless experiences and all commerce is expected to be ever more digitally influenced.
What different approach has Avataar.me taken to enhance the AR/VR industry?
Our deep tech capabilities are unparalleled in the AR/VR industry. Our patents and IP differentiate us on photo-realism, scalability of AI, topology preserved compression, run time rendering on the lowest spec smartphones, and delivering highly interactive experiences. This helps us drive very high emotional engagement and impulse with consumers, delivering full-funnel outcomes for our brand and commerce partners.
Avataar’s platform works in a plug & play fashion for our partners – our deep-learning AI directly converts 2D photos and videos to life-size 3D from existing 2D inventory of images and videos, helping brands immerse their consumers in life-size AR visual discovery – from trying apparels, makeup and accessories on yourself, to trying furniture in your living room, or a life-size car in your backyard – we can do it all! Our AR platform embeds into our brand’s social pages as well websites/apps to offer plug-and-play experiences at scale.
Moreover, our unique capabilities have enabled us to enter partnerships with global brands and social platforms like FB and Instagram.
What are the new technologies that expect you to accelerate in your field?
Avataar is working towards deeper penetration of AR/VR into the action plan of partner businesses to grow exponentially. Social AR is already working well and we are working hard to unleash our first to market WebAR capabilities to help Auto, Home Improvement, Apparel, FMCG and Electronics customers drive tangible at-home discovery and delight.
While Lifesize 3D is here and now and substrate independent reaching over 3.0 Bn users, true AR penetration is 15 – 20% currently but expected to ramp up significantly with better smartphone camera hardware and experience a step jump once AR glasses become commercial and mainstream in 2023 and beyond. (Apple has already announced untethered AR glasses by 2023).
How technology and AR can help in an increasing need for contactless experience?
Today of the nearly 3Bn + smartphone, nearly 55% are AR-enabled and this number will grow to 80% over the next 2 years. Over the last decade, the advent of technology has been driven by mobility and convenience, unlocking multi-billion in businesses and industries that could enhance consumer lifestyle. Apart from mobility and convenience, AR brings in a third vector of safety/hygiene where tangible high-quality product discovery can happen from the safe confines of your home. AR’s unique capability to bridge the online-offline experience makes it the only scalable technology that can drive true omnichannel discovery and purchases, in a post Covid world.
The technology will eventually be all-encompassing and AR/VR use cases will extend to healthcare and education, enterprise productivity and telepresence, industrial applications like Auto and Heavy engineering … beyond just digital and digitally influenced commerce.
What are your immediate and long term objectives?
Our immediate objective is to rapidly accelerate our business partnership capabilities to the big AR/VR markets globally (India/US/UK/Japan/SEA) – to partner with the top 50 digital clients in key geographies, within Auto, Home Improvement, Apparel, FMCG and Electronics categories. The long term objective is to be a globally dominant AR/VR powerhouse shaping the future of the industry.
