Blippar, the UK startup behind an eponymous mobile image recognition and augmented reality platform, has landed seed funding – the size of the investment was not disclosed – from Qualcomm Ventures.
The startup, which is based in London, says the seed funding serves as a springboard for a bigger Series A funding round it expects to close in early 2012.
Like other augmented reality startups like Layar and metaio, Blippar’s technology turns a smartphone’s camera into a ‘lens’ that shows virtual information on top of real-life objects, be it a link to a website, a digital coupon, a video or another type of promotion.
Blippar says it has seen hundreds of thousands of consumer downloads in the first 7 months since its debut in the UK, and that major brands like Tesco, Nestle, Samsung and Unilever have already orchestrated campaign ‘blipps’.