AR-based social media platform Flam raises $3.5mn led by Inventus Capital

Flam brings AR to consumers with FlamCards that print videos on card

Flam, an AR-powered social media networking platform, raised a seed funding investment of $3.5 million led by Silicon Valley Quad, Inventus Capital Partners SV, along with 9Unicorns, Kwaish Ventures and prominent angels.

The seed capital will be used to further fuel growth and engagement on social media features, build a scalable next-gen AR engine, drive AR adoption, and expand to international markets. The funding will also be used to develop a tech team comprising Computer Vision, Graphic Engineering, GPS Mapping, Social Media Product, Growth Managers, and 3D Designers to meet the company’s future needs.

Flam launched its first consumer product called ‘FlamCard’, which are printed videos that can be turned into AR Videos when scanned through the Flam app--something that the Harry Porter movie had conceptualised. Within three months of its launch FlamCards have been scanned over 40 million.

The technology is powered by proprietary on-demand marker-based AR technology. Leveraging its expertise in AR technology, Flam is now expanding into the social media networking space by building a next- gen AR engine that will enable global cloud scalability for the very first time and allow privacy controls to users on the go.

“There is immense potential in the AR space today. Even as Big Tech companies double down on a variety of AR use cases, our belief is that social media networking will play a key role in the massive adoption of AR. This seed funding will enable us to drive this shift toward AR for social interactions. Our goal is to be the front runner in representing consumer AR tech across the globe,” said Shourya Agarwal, Co-Founder and CEO, Flam.

Agarwal said that FlamCards by Flam is the first in the world to make it possible to print videos also the first company where AR is being deployed directly in a consumer space, so far AR has been used in B2B space or in gaming segment. “There are three major features of FlamCard. First, image recognition is real-time. Second is augmentation, which means that video is augmented above the image and most important is the tracking feature. If you want to run a video of a picture in real-time then all the co-ordinates have to match on the app, but we have managed to create a tracking feature that allows the video to play even if the photo is moved,” explains Agarwal.

Founded in May 2021 by three BITS Pilani graduates, Shourya Agarwal, Malhar Patil, and Rajat Gupta, Flam AR Social Media Network is the world’s first Augmented Reality (AR) based social media networking platform built for users across the globe.

Manu Rekhi, MD, Inventus Capital SV and board member, Flam, said, “With more than 40 million FlamCard scans in three months, Flam is one of the world’s top five consumer AR apps. We trust that our investment will accelerate the company’s growth trajectory. We are excited to partner with a young team that is building a global consumer tech company from India, executing our shared vision of transforming the social networking landscape leveraging AR”.

Raju Reddy, Partner, Silicon Valley Quad and board member, Flam, said, “Silicon Valley Quad is impressed by the idea of Flam building a social media network for a global audience and believes in the high-quality leadership at Flam. We are thrilled to be the early partners of Shourya, Malhar, and Rajat.