Augmented reality startup Blippar raises $54M from Khazanah, others

UK- and India-based Blippar Inc, which specialises in augmented reality, artificial intelligence and computer vision, has raised $54 million (around Rs 364.7 crore) in Series D funding round led by Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad and existing investors.

The funds raised will support expansion of its engineering capabilities and presence in San Francisco, said a company statement.

"2016 is poised to be the biggest year in Blippar's history as we not only expand our breadth and depth as a business - across our team, technology capabilities and product offerings - but also reach new heights with our vision to become a true visual discovery engine for the physical world," said Ambarish Mitra, co-founder and CEO, Blippar.

The startup had last year raised $45 million (Rs 285 crore) from Qualcomm Ventures and Lansdowne Partners.

Blippar was founded by Mitra, Omar Tayeb, Steve Spencer and Jess Butcher in 2011, and has offices in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

The company claims to have 65 million users, and partnerships with brands including Nestlé, Condé Nast, TIME Inc., Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Heinz, Universal Pictures, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Disney and Jaguar.

Blippar, which was established in 2011, develops mobile augmented reality and image recognition platform and applications. Its application is used to recognise images in newspapers, magazines, products, and posters.