Occipital develops 3D scanning hardware and software, including the $379 Structure sensor that attaches to iOS devices and Canvas software for producing refined CAD models. The company released a mixed-reality developer kit bringing positional tracking to the iPhone and is commercializing monoSLAM, an inside‑out tracking system using a single camera and an IMU. With new funding it plans to expand its tracking platform into a "Perception Engine" that moves beyond geometry into machine learning to recognize people and identify objects. Occipital has announced a partnership with Misty Robotics and sees applications across AR/VR and markets targeted by Intel's RealSense and other larger companies. The company is based in San Francisco. It has raised about $33 million to date. Occipital develops 3D scanning hardware and a computer vision platform centered on its Structure Sensor and Structure SDK. The company launched the Structure Sensor for iPad in 2013 and has since focused on its SDK and the broader Structure platform. Occipital sells a combined hardware-software package; CEO Jeff Powers says revenue currently comes mostly from hardware while the software transforms depth maps into 3D user interfaces and models. Its platform is being adopted in industries including medicine, architecture, visual effects, and 3D printing, and by industry leaders like 3D Systems and ILM. Occipital also offers an app for scanning rooms in 3D and continues to maintain its older 360 Panorama app for iOS. Looking ahead, the company plans to advance the Structure platform, pursue VR and AR applications for its sensor, and further develop its SDK (currently labeled version 0.5 toward 1.0). The company has raised a total of $21 million to date. Occipital’s core product in this article is the Structure, a very small 3D sensor designed to mount on the back of an iPad and connect via Lightning without severely draining battery life. The Structure is compatible with any iOS device with a Lightning port and ships with early companion apps for scanning objects (for 3D printing at Shapeways) and capturing rooms for developer experimentation. Occipital positioned the Kickstarter not primarily to raise cash but as a marketing tool to gauge demand and recruit developer support. The campaign vastly exceeded its $100,000 goal and raised over $1 million, providing strong validation for the consumer-hardware push. The company says it prepared its supply chain in advance and expects the surge in demand not to affect shipping schedules. Occipital’s leadership noted the team still had funds remaining from a prior funding round, so the Kickstarter complements existing financing rather than replacing it. The move represents the company’s first major foray into consumer-facing hardware after building a reputation with apps like Red Laser and 360Panorama. Occipital is a Boulder, Colorado-based developer of mobile computer vision applications. The company created consumer apps including RedLaser, a barcode-scanning application, and 360 Panorama, which captures and shares interactive 360 views. It is launching a platform to allow third-party developers to generate dynamic content that leverages its computer vision technology. Occipital is expanding its team and is hiring a computer vision engineer, an iOS developer and a front-end developer. Financially, the company has secured external financing, most recently a $7M Series A led by Foundry Group. The company is positioning its product and platform to drive developer adoption of its vision capabilities.

Total raised

$33M

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Series C

Latest activity

Jan 2018