AR startup eyecandylab scores €1.35 million in seed money to scale its SaaS platform augmen.tv

German startup eyecandylab that brings augmented reality to video, has raised a €1.35 million seed round led by Band of Angels, with participation from LG Technology Ventures and a number of angel investors. The fresh capital will be used to accelerate the development of the startup’s platform augmen.tv as well as to scale its operations in the new markets — mainly within Asia and the US.

Originally based out of Munich, eyecandylab is already present in the US with offices in New York City and Los Angeles. Founded in 2017, the startup provides a computer-vision software solution using videos as a trigger for AR content on consumer mobiles and AR glasses. Eyecandylab’s solution enables enterprises from media, entertainment, sports and commerce to drive user engagement and tap into new revenue streams by providing an interactive AR layer around screens. Its customers include VIACOM, NBCUniversal, WWE, and Softbank.

The first half of the year was quite eventful for eyecandylab — joining adidas new sports accelerator program "Platform A" at Station F in Paris, introducing augmen.tv to Japanese market at Content Tokyo, and releasing its own tool for content creators to create video-based AR experiences, starting with an SDK (software development kit) for Unity. Later this year the startup plans to launch an important 5G service in South Korea together with LG Uplus: "As the leading provider of innovative services in 5G, we are thrilled to offer relevant use cases to our consumers," said Keeman Seoh, VP Strategic Alliance & Global Partnership Unit of LG Uplus. "eyecandylab's technology is a perfect differentiator and we are looking forward to taking the next step to extend our leadership position."

Terry Schussler of Deutsche Telekom, who will join the eyecandylab’s advisory board believes that the startup “is on track to take advantage of the convergence of 5G, XR and next generation broadcast video. It is a perfectly targeted use of technology to realise the massive potential business that will come from blending traditional video content with interactive XR experiences.”