Flipkart buys VR startup Scapic; user experience to see big changes

Flipkart has acquired 100 per cent stake in Bengaluru-based three-year-old SaaS based cloud computing platform which is into creation and publishing of Augmented Reality (AR) and 3D content. Scapic's small team with a handful of people will now work towards accelerating the Flipkart's efforts to provide deeper camera experiences, virtual storefronts and new opportunities for brand advertising on its platform.

"As we make investments that focus on developing and nurturing the retail ecosystem, we are also committed to making our platform easier to navigate and richer for consumers in terms of content and experience. I welcome the Scapic team to Flipkart as we continue our efforts to provide deeper value to our customers," said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group.

Scapic allows user to create AR/VR, 360-degree, three dimensional, mixed reality content, all bundled under extended reality (XR) on the browser without the hassles of coding. Using browser-based drag and drop tools, and adding elements, users can create content with the output being a web link that existing browsers like Chrome and Mozilla can render. So, there is no need for a specific app.  

Ajay P V, Co-founder, Scapic says that they see a great opportunity to deploy AR/VR technology at scale, for a billion Indian shoppers. "I am glad that what started as a random idea in Starbucks around 3 years back after which we dared to start a deep tech product company from India, is now part of such a massive Flipkart ecosystem."

Scapic had earlier worked with Flipkart and Myntra with listing and cataloguing of several of its products including during Big Billion Day Sale. The company has also worked on several other marketing campaigns such as building AR experience for Sony's Kapil Sharma show, movies such as Andhadhun and Bumblebee.

"There is currently a bit of a race to digitise e-commerce products. 3D will be more important through this decade for technologies like CV, AI and AR to have full impact in a customer's buying journey," said VK Sai Krishna, Co-founder.  

Scapic which was one on Business Today's Coolest Startups list of 2019, was started in 2017.  Scapic, till date, has raised seed round funding of $500,000 from Speciale Invest, Axilor Ventures & Newfort Capital. Globally, it competes with Amazon's Sumerian, Vizor and Mirra.

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