Matterport, a photo software and augmented reality company in Mountain View, announced Monday it has raised $16 million to expand its 3D technology.
The Series B funding round was led by new investor DCM, along with AME Cloud Ventures, another first-time investor to Matterport. Other investors include Lux Capital, Felicis Ventures, Greylock Partners, Navitas Capital, AMD Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Rothenberg Ventures, Sling Media founder Blake Krikorian, and Crate & Barrel founder Gordon Segal. The company says the funding will support development of new professional and consumer 3D technology that has already begun to change the home improvement retail industry.
In March, Matterport began selling software that can create a 3-D rendering of the inside of a house. People can view the rendering on a computer screen, explore the house as though taking a video tour and add objects to rooms. Matterport is selling the technology to home improvement and furniture retailers, Bill Brown, Matterport chief executive, told this newspaper in December.
Instead of the consumers shopping on the retailer s turf, the retailer is being moved into (the customers ) kitchen and their living room, said Brown.
The company is adding a new feature to the platform called Matterport 3D Showcase, which lets users view a home from multiple vantage points. Users can see how the living room looks from the bedroom, or how the dining room looks from the kitchen, or view the entire layout of a home from a top-down vantage point. Some realtors are posting these images on Zillow to sell properties.
Some Matterport products are sold at a fraction of the price of other 3D software, making the technology more available to regular consumers. It has also partnered with Google s Project Tango to make 3D imaging products available on tablets and smartphones, and the company said Matterport apps should be available on mobile devices in the next few months.
Matterport was founded in 2011 and has raised about $26 million to date.
Photo from mercurynews.com: Matterport s iPad app displays and in-progress model using pictures transferred wirelessly from its camera system.
