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CastAR receives $15 million in funding to make affordable AR for the whole family
While virtual reality headsets like Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are making most of the headlines these days, augmented reality is quickly catching up in hype and popularity. This is good news for AR startups like CastAR, a Mountain View-based company founded in 2013 by two former Valve Software employees who raised over $1 million on Kickstarter to bring their AR vision to life.
Now CastAR has a little more cash to put toward that dream thanks to a $15 million funding round led by Playground Global.
“This money really marks an inflection point from being just a raw startup to actually allowing us to become a really fully functioning company,” CEO David Henkel-Wallace told GamesIndustry.biz. “I’ve raised money for other companies I’ve started where we just had an idea and we need the money to turn the idea into reality. In this case a lot of the questions in people’s minds – what does this product do? – they can put it on and see right away.”
Henkel-Wallace explained that the goal behind CastAR is not to create a top-of-the-line, bleeding edge system that puts a serious dent in people’s wallets.
“When we say a consumer product, we mean a consumer price point,” he said. “The Oculus headset is only a few hundred dollars but then you need a $1000 PC to run your games. That’s not a consumer product, that’s not something you’re giving to your kids.”
While CastAR’s technology can have multiple uses, one of its main focuses is augmented tabletop games, using real game boards and pieces mixed with AR overlays and controls. Some accessory products being made by CastAR include radio frequency-enabled game mats and pieces that will be able to communicate with their headset.
“Our vision is that Christmas day Grandma has bought these for the kids, they tear open the paper, they open the box, they’re eight and ten years old, they put down the game board and within a minute they’re playing,” Henkel-Wallace said. “That’s where we want to get to. Well I can tell you, Grandma is not buying a thousand dollar product for the kids.”
You can watch CastAR’s promo video for its product below:
Screenshot via CastAR | Vimeo
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