Deeptech startup DGG announced a €4 million new funding to accelerate its 3D optimization software, RapidCompact. The fresh capital will also serve for its global expansion, partners program, and R&D on real-time 3D, AR, and XR applications. The round was led by European VC IRIS alongside existing investors RenderedVC, FTTF, 3VC, as well as Business Angels Charlie Songhurst and Chris Schagen.
Thorben Rothe, Partner at IRIS, said: “We see great potential in DGG and how they make 3D content easily accessible and scalable to the retail industry and beyond. Their technology represents an essential building block for successful 3D infrastructures as their experienced team is developing many product enhancements that fulfill its mission, making 3D accessible to all and we are pleased to support DGG in this endeavour.“
The German deep tech company was founded in 2018, built over 8 years of research at the world-famous Fraunhofer Institute (creator of the MP3 format) where co-founders Max Limper, Miguel Sousa, Julian-Alexander Neagu, Sebastian Wagner and Felix Limper originally met. They first launched RapidCompact, a unique technology that helps the global developer community automatically create optimized 3D assets for eCommerce and beyond. The startup is currently extending its product line and offers a platform for technology partners, as well as dedicated integrations for large enterprise clients.
The central problem in real-time 3D & XR applications is the lack of properly formatted 3D content: while 3D display tech (hardware and software) is well developed, the creation and optimization of 3D content for different kinds of interactive experiences is still a manual process. The RapidCompact software and
API allows eCommerce clients and platform partners to integrate the tech into their backend infrastructure so that their merchants can automatically upload 3D models of their products whatever their size, complexity, or format, by making many thousands of 3D models accessible to all kinds of real-time 3D and XR applications, within a few hours.
“What might sound complicated is actually really simple for our users: our technology allows them to create and display 3D models just the way YouTube allows content creators to upload their content with a drag-and-drop feature. Our ultimate goal is to make 3D technology accessible to all retailers and product creators through an API with the essential building blocks, and this new funding will help us boost our growth and R&D,”, added Max Limper, DGG’s Co-Founder and CEO.
DGG is already serving several leading retailers worldwide, including Adidas, Crate & Barrel, and Otto Group, as well as key eCommerce platform partners, such as Shopify and Adobe. With its unique focus on automation, DGG’s RapidCompact solution has already created more than two million optimized 3D models during the past two years.
The DGG team is also working on a new product that automatically converts “offline” CGI assets to real-time 3D formats, which will be presented at the SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles this August. This specific challenge is currently blocking the broader adoption of 3D technology within the retail industry and helping retailers address and scale 3D content creation for XR will be a major step in digital retail.
