Portland Seed Fund is backing an Ohio augmented reality company started by three Magic Leap veterans.
The PSF investment is part of a $2 million round raised by Trace 3D Inc. The lead investors on the pre-seed round are Rev1 Ventures, a venture development organization backed by the state of Ohio, and Impellent Ventures.
Trace’s co-founder and chief technology officer Martin Smith is based in Portland. He spent five years at high profile AR startup Magic Leap.
Trace 3D was founded in 2021 and made its public debut this month. It is building a platform for people to easily create and deploy immersive content for AR devices ranging from glasses to hardware like the Apple Vision Pro.
Startup co-founder and CEO Greg Tran likened Trace’s platform to other popular tools like Canva, which makes it easier for people to tackle graphic design, or SquareSpace, which makes it easier to create websites.
“Creating AR content is typically a complex process that is out of reach for anyone other than experts and agencies," said Tran in a written statement. “Trace uses a beginner-friendly approach to creation so that AR deployments that previously took months can happen within just a few moments.”
The funding will be used to further boost development of the platform, which is in closed beta right now, according to the company. Though still early, the platform has powered several brand experiences at events like Mobile World Congress and Hip Hop 50 Summit. Early customers include Deutsche Telekom, Qualcomm, T-Mobile and Lenovo.
Other investors in this round include: Everywhere Ventures, Ohio Innovation Fund, Allied Venture Partners, Service Provider Capital, Astir Ventures, Move VC, Phoenix Venture Fund, as well as scout funds for Andreesen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures.
