Written by Shiv Patel
Fuel Ventures are proud to announce that we have recently led a $2.1m round into Poplar, the Augmented Reality (AR) creative platform. Poplar becomes the 35th company to be a part of Fuel’s growing portfolio and sit within an industry that we believe is about to explode.
Poplar facilitate on-request formation of premium AR and 3D content to cater for the growing interest for personalised AR concepts, and impressively, have delivered over 120 campaigns to brands such as L’Oréal, Disney, Nestle and Speedo. Furthermore, Poplar’s industry leading expertise and carefully curated community approach has allowed them to develop into one of TikTok’s first technology partners for AR Branded effects creation, as well as a Trusted Partner for Google’s 3D display advertising format, Swirl.
The investment into Poplar follows a trend that we believe is starting to become more and more evident, as the world’s workforce becomes increasingly flexible and remote (which in itself has been magnified by the recent pandemic). Following the explosion of lower-skill gig economy platforms such as Airbnb and Uber, we are confident that the next area of substantial growth will be in platforms that provide highly skilled and specialised workers an opportunity to sell their services. Poplar’s platform sits perfectly within this concept and with the expected growth of the AR and 3D markets over the next few years, is a welcome addition to our growing portfolio.
Mark Pearson, Founder and Managing Partner at Fuel Ventures: “Augmented reality has been on the rise but now, as a result of the pandemic lockdown, is its time to shine. I believe it represents the future of commerce – from being able to see a car in 3D without being in a showroom to trying on clothes in virtual changing rooms. Poplar sees the future of content creation in this medium and I am excited we are on board to help Poplar’s journey to making AR technology more accessible, as the technology grows further in popularity.”
FURTHER COVERAGE
Poplar raises $2.1m to address growing appetite for AR
UK startup Poplar scores $2.1 million to capitalise on AR momentum
Augmented reality on the rise as Poplar raises $2.1 million
AR platform Poplar raises $2.1m
London-based Poplar raises around €2 million to make AR and 3D experiences