Led · Series A · Nov 2016

ObEN builds a decentralized AI platform that enables users to create Personal AIs (PAIs), intelligent 3D avatars that look, sound, and behave like their owners. Its PAI technology is deployed on the blockchain to provide authentication, registration, and user control. The company is focusing on retail, real estate and hospitality applications, offering PAI concierges, virtual shopping experiences, and localized immersive interactions. ObEN has partnered on projects such as AI Stars with S.M. Entertainment and announced a strategic alliance with K11 to bring PAIs to K11 properties. The company said PAI would be available in early 2018. ObEN was founded in 2014 and is based at Idealab in Pasadena, California; its investors include Tencent, Softbank Ventures Korea and HTC Vive X. ObEN uses AI to create avatars that look and sound like real people, generating “virtual celebrities” from a photo and an audio snippet. The company has shifted from helping VR gamers make more accurate avatars to focusing on celebrity avatars that can interact with fans in AR and VR. ObEN graduated from HTC’s Vive X accelerator and demonstrated a demo integrating WeChat services into VR. With platforms like Apple’s ARKit approaching release, the company aims to serve its avatars on millions of phones and capitalize on the popularity of mask filters and Bitmoji-like figures. Financially, ObEN announced a $5M strategic investment from Tencent, with Li Ruigang and Fengshion Capital participating, bringing total funding to nearly $13M to date. Its technology emphasizes nailing faces rather than full volumetric scans, which the company says makes creating celebrity-focused content easier to produce. ObEN is an artificial intelligence company that creates photo‑real, speech‑enabled 3D avatars by combining a person’s voice and image. Its proprietary AI brings avatars to life, enabling them to learn a user’s mannerisms, behaviors and habits. The company positions these personal AIs for applications across AR, VR and IoT consumer experiences. ObEN says the recent investment will fund market research and outreach and support international expansion efforts. It is an HTC VIVE X portfolio company and is based at Idealab in Pasadena, California. Founded in 2014, ObEN previously closed a $7.7 million Series A in November 2016. ObEN uses AI to recreate a user’s face photo‑realistically in 3D from a selfie and to capture the tone and intonation of a user’s voice from a short recording. Its avatar system is designed for easy integration into games and the company expects demand from verticals like healthcare and education where identifying individuals matters. ObEN launched out of HTC’s Vive X accelerator and plans to ship its first product in Q1 2017. The startup raised $7.7 million in Series A funding and intends to use the proceeds to build its team and scale its product. The company is positioning its technology to address concerns around the “uncanny valley” as it pursues greater photorealism.

Led · Equity · Nov 2016

Oben builds technology that converts a 2D photo plus a simple voice recording into a realistic 3D virtual head or avatar for VR and AR environments. The company emphasizes translating a user's character, personality, and individuality into realistic avatars rather than cartoon-like representations. Oben plans to launch its virtual self product in Q1 2017 and says the funds will be used for rapid product development, hiring more scientists, and identifying new partnerships. It positions its avatars to enable more social and shared experiences in VR, including personalized music and entertainment. Oben is a portfolio company of the HTC Vive X accelerator and was selected for the program in July 2016. The company was founded in 2014, is based in Pasadena, CA, and has about 20 employees. Prior to this raise, Oben had previously raised $150,000.