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When Trace ’s next co - founders Greg Tran , Martin Smith and Sean Couture joined Magic Leap in spring / summertime of 2015 , it was about as hot as startups come . After years of privacy , the augment reality company get Silicon Valley ’s mental imagery with in - equipment footage , before capping the year with an $ 827 million ascent .
The story of the intervene long time is one of a massively fund and extremely promising inauguration fight to find market fit . Tran exited his creative manager role in January 2020 , while Couture and Smith leave in July 2020 and February 2021 , respectively .
Tracewas ground in 2021 , with Tran , Smith and Couture step into the several roles of chief operating officer , CTO and head of 3D art . The startup , which build up location - ground branded augmented world experiences , is a intersection of some of Magic Leap ’s other content battle .
“ It ’s really hard to make AR content , ” Tran tells TechCrunch . “ It ’s really early in the ecosystem . There were a mass of partner with Magic Leap . Whenever they wanted to make substance , it would take three to six months to do , take expert in developing and 3D art and whole teams of people . We saw an chance to make that appendage a lot easier . ”
Trace is a far more modest house than Magic Leap . In increase to its three founders , the company hire a handful of contractors . Magic Leap ’s funding now tops $ 4 billion . Trace , on the other hand , is announcing a $ 2 million pre - seed this hebdomad , co - led byRev1Ventures and Impellent Ventures . Still , the ship’s company has already team with some eminent - profile name calling , including Qualcomm , Telefónica , T - Mobile and Lenovo .
If you attended Mobile World Congress this year , you may have encountered the AR experience it built for Deutsche Telekom . Or perhaps you see the mixed - world offering it build for the Hip Hop 50 Summit last year in New York .
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Trace ’s offer center around a creator app design to well bring AR subject matter to a material - universe quad . Tran compare it to a Squarespace for AR experience . Once in place , a user can enter the digital contentedness through Trace ’s app or a internet web web browser .
The Godhead experience has thus far been bound to a secret genus Beta , but Trace wait to open it to the world over the next few month . When that happen , companies will be able to produce experience as part of a subscription - based offering .
One way of life the society is very much in line with Magic Leap , however , is its nidus on enterprise clients .
“ The partners that we ’ve had so far have been some of these big steel company , ” says Tran . “ We ’re focused on some of those go-ahead - story partner first . … This is a consumer - facing production , in a way , but we see there being more chance in the enterprise quad decent now . ”
