Vertebrae helps brands turn their goods into 3D assets

https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/19/22583827/snap-vertebrae-snapchat-ar-shopping-startup-3d-assets.

The parent company of Snapchat has bought Vertebrae, a company that lets brands create and manage 3D versions of their goods.

Early tests of AR shopping experiences, such as a recent collaboration with Gucci to let people virtually try on a pair of limited-edition sneakers, have shown Snap that people are more likely to buy something after they interact with it in 3D.

Snap declined to say how much it paid for Vertebrae, but the deal was likely small relative to its $500 million acquisition of WaveOptics, which makes the AR displays in its Spectacles smart glasses. Vertebrae raised about $10 million in venture funding to date. It lists Toyota, Adidas, CB2, and other well-known brands as clients on its website. It also worked with Facebook — Snap’s biggest competitor — on AR shopping tech in 2019.

And looking beyond smartphones, AR shopping is more compelling in a future world when more people are potentially wearing smart glasses with displays in them, such as Snap’s latest Spectacles.

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more on AR in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=augmented+reality