Earlier this year, Zoom Video Communications Inc. raised $100 million in funding from a consortium led by Sequoia Capital to fuel feature development. This morning at a user conference in California, the startup unveiled the latest fruits of the effort.

The main highlight is a new feature called Recording Transcripts. According to VentureBeat, Zoom has applied voice recognition technology from an unnamed fellow startup to automatically put comments made by meeting attendees into writing and organize the text.

Each line in the transcript, which appears next to the video playback window, is labeled with the time it was spoken. Users can also check the identity of the speaker and search for specific phases. Selecting a word causes the video player to skip to the relevant part, a convenience that Zoom hopes will remove the need for manual note-taking when combined with the other capabilities of Recording Transcripts.

Another major change introduced in today’s update is expanded support for Slack. After users wrap up a Zoom meeting that they’ve launched through the messaging service, they will now receive a call summary featuring key details about the call and a link to the recording. The startup has also added integration with Workplace by Facebook, the social network’s paid collaboration platform.

Capping off the enhancements is new augmented reality support. Customers using Zoom to give presentations can now accompany their talk with a 3D virtual tour that may be viewed by attendees without any special hardware.

The presenter, however, does have to wear an augmented reality headset. Zoom will only work with gear from buzzed-about startup Meta Co. on launch, but it’s not unreasonable to assume support for other products will be added in the future.  

The augmented reality capability is one of several experimental features that Zoom is working on. Eric Yuan, the startup’s chief executive officer, told VentureBeat that his team is also exploring the possibility of live conversation feedback for meeting attendees. Another potential feature on the drawing board is a computer vision tool for checking if participants are engaged.

The creative ways in which which Zoom is trying to set itself apart are a testament to the competitiveness of the videoconferencing segment. One of the startup’s biggest rivals is Cisco Systems Inc. with its WebEx platform. Cisco originally obtained the software through the 2007 acquisition of WebEx Communications Inc., which counted Zoom’s Eric Yuan as a co-founder.

Image: Zoom