Quick take:
- CommonGround has announced a $25 million funding round led by Marius Nacht, the co-founder and former chairman of CheckPoint Software.
- The fundraising also attracted participation from venture capital firms Grove Ventures, Matrix Partners and StageOne Ventures.
- CommonGround’s technology allows people with smartphones to generate real-time 3D avatars by scanning their faces.
CommonGround has completed a $25 million funding round led by Marius Nacht, the co-founder and former chairman of CheckPoint Software. The extended reality (XR) company says its product can fix one aspect of how the metaverse works.
The company is developing an immersive video avatar technology that does not require virtual reality headsets. According to CommonGround, its technology allows people with smartphones to generate responsive real-time 3D avatars that can be used in video applications, including the metaverse.
CommonGround also announced the beta launch of its live avatar software which took years to develop.
The Israeli/Silicon Valley-based startup previously raised $19 million from Grove Ventures, Matrix Partners and StageOne Ventures whilst in stealth. The three venture capital firms also participated in the latest round.
The company said the funding round closed a year ago but chose to delay the announcement until the beta version of its software was ready for launch.
CommonGround was founded in 2019 by Amir Bassan-Eskenazi and Ran Oz. Its leadership includes engineers with expertise in artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision, geometry processing, 3D graphics, and real-time video compression.
The company has demonstrated how the software can be deployed in an overseas meeting setting allowing remote workers to engage in realistic 3D avatars.
Artificial intelligence is expected to play a crucial role in bringing the metaverse to the masses. One of its key roles will be generating 3D assets for use in immersive spaces. Not everyone is an expert in 3D design, thus having the ability to scan objects and create 3D versions of them in the metaverse could speed up the process of creating twin worlds.
That’s why CommonGround founders believe their technology can fix a key aspect of the metaverse.
According to the founders, the software can work for up to 500 people simultaneously, enabling corporations to hold virtual board meetings and mini-conferences.
The company is leveraging the rapid adoption of video conferencing services (Zoom, Google Meet and others) to accelerate the onboarding of users.
“There is Zoom and there are phone calls, but we think there is a big aspect of remote meetings [not being addressed by technology today],” said Bassan-Eskenazi. “Our goal is to enable taking experience — closer connections — and making that digital. We think moving video conferencing from 2D to 3D could even make it better than face-to-face.”
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