Blippar

Blippar
Founders Ambarish Mitra (CEO), Omar Tayeb (CTO), Steve Spencer (Chief Creative Officer), Jessica Butcher (Chief Marketing Officer)
Founded in London (UK) in 2011
Offices London (UK), New York (USA), San Francisco (USA), Los Angeles (USA), Chicago (USA), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Tokyo, (Japan), Istanbul (Turkey), New Delhi (India), Mumbai (India)
Number of employees 200
Number of locations 10
Products Blippar app for iOS / Windows / Android / Google Glass, Blippbuilder
Subsidiaries Layar

Blippar is a New York/London based company with additional offices in Amsterdam, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Delhi, Istanbul and Tokyo.

Blippar [1] is a visual browsing app using image-recognition and augmented reality technologies[2] to overlay the physical world with digital content via the device’s camera.[3]

Users download the Blippar app to smartphones, tablets or wearables (including Google Glass[4]), and then scan (‘blipp’) images to unlock interactive digital content. Blippable images (‘markers’) can be found on Blippar partner products, packaging,[5] printed pages,[6] adverts,[7] outdoor marketing[8] and screens. Blipping can launch anything a phone or tablet can do, including mobile games,[9] videos, music, weblinks, PDF downloads, opinion polls and image galleries.

In June 2014 Blippar acquired[10] Dutch AR player Layar, based in Amsterdam, forming the world’s largest AR userbase.[11]

Blippar was also an official sponsor of British F1 driver Max Chilton from the Marussia F1 team.[12]

History

2011: Founding & Launch

Blippar was founded in the U.K. in 2011[13] by Ambarish Mitra (Chief Executive Officer), Omar Tayeb (Chief Technology Officer), Steve Spencer (Chief Creative Officer) and Jessica Butcher (Chief Marketing Officer).

The concept for the company was inspired by a joke Mitra and Tayeb shared about bringing the Queen to life from a £20 note. Tayeb developed a proof-of-concept and they both quit their jobs to start Blippar. In the summer of 2011, the first campaigns launched in the U.K. with Cadbury, Domino's and Tesco. Blippar’s first U.S. offices opened in New York one year later.[14]

The company's initial seed funding was provided by Qualcomm Ventures.[15]

2013: Blippbuilder & Expansion

In September 2013, Blippar launched Blippbuilder, a web-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tool with which publishers, agencies and other brands and companies can create their own AR content.[16]

The company expanded in later 2013, opening its first Asian office in Delhi, India,[17] in October, and an Istanbul office in November.[18]

2014: Wearables, & Acquisition

In March 2014, Blippar CEO Ambarish Mitra demonstrated the Blippar App on Google Glass, which was the first instance of image recognition on the platform at the time.[19][20][21] The company later introduced games for Glass using image recognition, AR and gesture recognition.[22][23][24] In November 2014, the company partnered with Jaguar to launch a multi-platform campaign on both mobile and Google Glass.[25][26]

In June 2014, Blippar announced that it had acquired Amsterdam-based rival Layar for an undisclosed amount.[27] At the time, the combined companies totalled 50 million mobile app users, as well as "5,000 brands and publishers and over 100,000 self-publishing partners" in over 175 countries.[28]

2015: Visual Search

In March 2015, Blippar announced it had raised $45 million in funding from undisclosed investors.[29] In the same month, the company unveiled plans to include new "visual search" capabilities in its app, which will allow users to perform a search for information about object by pointing their mobile device at the object.[30] An early proof-of-concept was shown to work on apples, dogs[31] and cars.[32] The company announced plans to make all American sports logos, English-language music album covers, fiction book covers, DVD cases and movie posters "blippable" by April, 2015.[33]

Technology

Blippar uses the following technologies

Applications

Blipps can do anything a phone or tablet can, so blipping can launch a video, an audio clip, a game, a photo gallery, a website or a PDF. It can also download a secondary app, send an email, dial a number, enable a virtual ‘try-on’, open a survey or provide users with a printable coupon or voucher. The app also connects directly to social media platforms – including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.[34]

Blipps for products including Heinz Ketchup[35] and Kraft Philadelphia[36] launch virtual recipe books, while magazines and newspapers including VOGUE Germany[37] use Blippar to add digital content to their print editions.

Awards

Blippar has won several awards:

References

  1. ↑ "Blippar - Techcrunch".
  2. ↑ "Next Big Thing in Tech? Blippar’s Augmented Reality".
  3. ↑ "Blippar By Adam Gerhart, Mindshare".
  4. ↑ "Blippar Brings Image Recognition to Google Glass".
  5. ↑ "Pepsi Max and Blippar launch interactive football campaign".
  6. ↑ "Vogue Germany goes interactive with Blippar".
  7. ↑ "Minority Report-style advertising: Billboards could soon track Google Glass users' gaze to play 3D videos and movie trailers".
  8. ↑ "Blippar - Art Everywhere".
  9. ↑ "Augmented reality passport takes off".
  10. ↑ "Blippar acquires Layar to make largest AR userbase".
  11. ↑ "Blippar Acquires Layar, Creating World's Largest AR Userbase".
  12. ↑ "Augmented reality? UK startup Blippar revs up its marketing by sponsoring British F1 driver Max Chilton".
  13. ↑ "Blippar Meet the company".
  14. ↑ "The Business Class - James Caan".
  15. ↑ "Blippar raises seed funding from Qualcomm for mobile augmented reality technology".
  16. ↑ "Blippar Empowers Publishers to Build Industry Leading Augmented Reality Experiences With New Self-Service Tool".
  17. ↑ "3D advertising app Blippar debuts in India".
  18. ↑ "Blippar, Türkiye ofisini açtı".
  19. ↑ "Blippar Introduces Image Recognition And AR Advertising On Google Glass".
  20. ↑ "Blippar brings object image recognition to Google Glass".
  21. ↑ "New Google Glass app makes objects interactive in real time".
  22. ↑ "Blippar launches a platform for augmented reality games on Google Glass".
  23. ↑ "Blippar demos augmented reality gaming on Google Glass".
  24. ↑ "Blippar shows off ‘first true AR game’ for Google Glass".
  25. ↑ "Jaguar revives British Villains theme in Google Glass-equipped campaign".
  26. ↑ "Jaguar's Google Glass App Brings Print Ads to Life".
  27. ↑ "UK Startup Blippar Acquires AR Pioneer Layar".
  28. ↑ "Blippar Acquires Layar Creating World's Largest AR Userbase".
  29. ↑ "With $45 Million In Funding, Augmented Reality Platform Blippar Is Rethinking Search".
  30. ↑ "Blippar develops 'visual browser for the physical world'".
  31. ↑ "Blippar Visual Search Demo With a Puppy!".
  32. ↑ "Blippar app visual overhaul aims to identify everything around you".
  33. ↑ "Forget words, Blippar app lets you search the web using your smartphone CAMERA".
  34. ↑ "Blippar AR Advertising App Launches Social Sharing, Improves Image Recognition Time".
  35. ↑ "Heinz launches augmented-reality trial for ketchup with Blippar".
  36. ↑ "Kraft mobilizes Philadelphia products using augmented reality".
  37. ↑ "Augmented Reality in VOGUE – so funktioniert's!".
  38. ↑ "MEF Unveils Winners for the 11th Annual Meffys Awards".
  39. ↑ "Mapp Media Named In UK's Top 50 Mobile Innovators".
  40. ↑ "White Bull".
  41. ↑ "Bully Awards".
  42. ↑ "UK Government Announces Winners Of The GREAT Tech Awards".
  43. ↑ "Blippar "The Most Innovative Mobile Technology" at MWC".
  44. ↑ "Add 'LeWeb Award 2012".