The investment by News Corp in the oversubscribed round is the media giant’s first seed investment by its Australian business.
Established in 2015, Plattar is a cloud-based platform that allows brands, publishers and agencies to create, manage and distribute augmented reality content in a simple, cost¬ effective way.
The platform comprises a template driven app builder and content management system for managing AR experiences, and can deploy content to any device. The company operates on a software as a service subscription model, and for larger projects provides bespoke content solutions, integration and support.
Plattar is currently in private beta and is taking expressions of interest.
|
|
“We were blown away by the level of interest and were pleased to welcome News Corp Australia as a strategic partner and investor. This round of investment will allow us to accelerate growth through additional investment in product development and marketing activity as part of an ambitious plan to cement Plattar as the world’s leading AR creator.”
News Corp Australia's chief technology officer Alisa Bowen said, “We are delighted to announce our investment in Plattar. Augmented reality is a major component of the next wave of consumer engagement, and we are excited to be bringing this capability to News.
"Working with Rupert, Steve and the Plattar team on a partnership with REA Group and Ray White in February confirmed the huge potential in the platform, and we will be looking to integrate AR and Plattar across many more of our publications.
"This investment is also News Corp Australia’s first ever seed investment, which shows our belief in both the technology and in Plattar."
Deans cites a new report by DigitCapital that annual investment in augmented and virtual reality companies is at an all-¬time high with a record breaking US$1.1 billion already invested into AR and VR companies in 2016 – and predicting that the augmented reality (AR) market will be a US$150b industry by 2020.
