Blippar, a UK-based augmented reality technology company backed by semiconductor technology producer Qualcomm, raised $45m in funding from unnamed investors yesterday.
Founded in 2011, Blippar has developed an augmented reality and image recognition platform for publishing companies, brands and advertisers that can present users with additional, interactive content when it identifies the physical object such as a newspaper page or a billboard.
Qualcomm’s corporate venturing arm, Qualcomm Ventures, provided an undisclosed sum in seed funding for Blippar in 2012.
The seed round was billed as a first stepping stone towards a series A later the same year and, although no additional funding has been disclosed, Blippar also lists alternative investment manager Lansdowne Partners as an investor.
The company will use the latest funding to hire more engineers and continue its international expansion. Blippar’s clients include media company Condé Nast, food producer Kraft and consumer goods conglomerate Unilever.
Ambarish Mitra, Blippar’s founder and CEO, said: “This funding brings us closer to our ultimate goal of creating a new kind of cognitive behaviour, one that enables us to instantaneously access information and content directly from any of the physical objects or collateral in the world around us.”