Facebook Inc. reportedly has acquired London computer vision startup Scape Technologies Ltd. in an apparent move to build out its augmented reality capabilities.
The price of the deal was not disclosed, but TechCrunch reported early Saturday that it could have been about $40 million.
Founded in 2016, Scape has built a localization engine that is designed for city-scale augmented reality. Using a cloud-based “Visual Engine,” the technology can build and reference 3D maps in the cloud, allowing devices to tap into a unified perception of the world around them.
The technology does not rely on GPS, instead using what it calls a “Visual Positioning Service” to determine the precise location of visual services. In doing so, the technology is said to achieve higher scalability and performance versus other approaches.
“Most 3D reconstruction pipelines are limited by the memory constraints of a given machine,” the company says on its website. “Our Vision Engine is different, horizontally scaling to 100s of servers on demand, to support areas the size of entire cities.”
The service is only available in London, though the company originally had plans to roll it out to other cities before its acquisition by Facebook.
The technology was primarily designed to assist augmented reality apps, but it also has applications in mobility, logistics and robotics, touching on areas such as mapping and even autonomous vehicles.
Facebook neither confirmed not denied the acquisition, saying only that “we acquire smaller tech companies from time to time” and that they “don’t always discuss our plans.”
The obvious application for the technology would be for Facebook’s Oculus division, although it may extend further. The social networking giant launched an augmented reality platform to the public in 2017 and was reported in September to be working with Luxottica Group SpA on AR glasses.
Facebook has also dabbled with AR through its core Facebook app in the past, debuting AR-enabled advertising in 2018.
Scape had raised $8 million in venture capital funding, according to Crunchbase. Investors included LocalGlobe, Fly Ventures, Mosaic Ventures and Entrepreneur First.
Image: Scape
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