Blippar, the UK-based augmented reality (AR) technology provider that has raised about $137m from investors including mobile semiconductor technology producer Qualcomm, has entered administration.
Founded in 2011, Blippar began life as a marketing agency that sold augmented reality advertisements, subsequently pivoting over the years to launch a visual search engine, a facial recognition tool called Halos and a mapping app dubbed AR City.
The company unveiled an indoor visual positioning system for large venues in August this year. Its team has focused on its business-to-business offering in recent months and was looking to close emergency funding on top of the $37m in series E funding it raised in September 2018.
Despite securing a small amount of additional funding, one of Blippar’s shareholders – reportedly Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Kazanah Nasional – voted against the investment, preventing it from being accessed by the company.
Blippar’s administrators are looking to find a buyer for all or part of the business, which will cease operations while the process takes place.
Qualcomm’s corporate venturing arm, Qualcomm Ventures, co-led the series E round with Candy Ventures. Khazanah Nasional had led a $54m series D round for the company in early 2016 that included unnamed existing backers.
The company received an undisclosed amount of funding from Qualcomm in 2012, three years before it closed a $45m series C round backed by undisclosed investors.