AR puts e-commerce products into visual context: London Dynamics bags $1 million

London Dynamics today announced a £1 million seed round to drive growth for its augmented reality and 3D product visuals offering, geared to tackling 3D design work for e-commerce clients.

The startup is headquartered in London with branches in Amsterdam and Malmö. It's now touting the success of its "lightweight" platform for producing full HD 360 and AR rendering, in creating digital product experiences and e-commerce AR product previews.

AR in this case is being pitched as a way of rendering computer design models into lifelike environments, for example previewing the contrast of furniture facsimiles in real household settings, as captured by the user's smartphone.

At bike manufacturer Colnago's online store, London Dynamics is also spearheading "hyper-real" 360-degree visuals of the newly-launched C68 road bike.

The visual data is contained and marketed as a non-fungible token (NFT), as a key differentiator that allows C68 owners to digitise their experience, through the use of a digital wallet. There's big money for NFT collectors, too. In May, Road.cc reported an NFT of an earlier Colnago model was auctioned for almost $8,600.

Before buying the bike, customers can also use London Dynamics' configurator to try out various frame skins, materials and features in a 360-degree preview.

Colnago IT manager, Michele Calliari, said: "Together, we have changed the cycling world and provided our customers with an amazing tool that enhances their eCommerce experience.

"No other competitor came close to the world-class 3-D configurator that London Dynamics has provided to us."

London Dynamics is keeping tight-lipped on the seed investors, saying only that "select" family offices and angel investors were involved. The funding will help build on its existing brand presence, sales and customer services team.

Michael Valdsgaard, an IKEA digital transformation alum and CEO of London Dynamics, said: "Only 5% of retailers are using augmented reality, meaning there is still an overwhelming majority of the market looking and wondering how to bring about an evolution in eCommerce.

"We understand the current economic conditions and have built a business that is geared for sustainable growth, unlike many other start-up software providers. With this foundation in place, now is the right time to accelerate."