Founded in 2018, rooom (triple ‘o’s stand for the three dimensions) is a fast-growing tech start-up based in Germany. According to Crunchbase, rooom AG has raised $7 million in funding over round 1. The company, rooom AG, offers web-based, all-in-one platform, experienceCloud, to help users create immersive digital experiences in 2D, 3D, AR, and VR. It works across all desktop and mobile devices. Rooom has put up an extensive FAQ page about its experienceCloud platform on the website.
Hans Elstner, CEO and co-founder of rooom.com, has had the dream of a technology that would enable people to create their 3D world; a technology that would democratize the 3D content creation. Rooom AG says that the software doesn’t need heavy computing power. It works with very small amounts of data and enables excellent loading times.
rooom environments can be accessed via any browser from any device with the help of WebGL standard from the Khronos Group. Rooom AG has recently joined Khronos Group as a contributing member. The company wishes to participate in the future development of standards such as WebGL, glTF, and WebVR, etc. Together, both Khronos and room AG share the vision of a future in 3D and work to seamlessly connect real and virtual worlds.
rooom AG has received “Digital Transformation Company of the Year 2020” award and is a three-time winner of the German Innovation Award. The company has won 22 awards for its innovative platform.
The company press release follows:
rooom Emerges from Stealth With €6M in Funding For Integrated 3D Virtual Experience Platform
experienceCloud Enables Anyone to Easily Create Immersive Digital Experiences in 2D, 3D, AR and VR, Was Used to Support World’s Biggest Hybrid Event – 200,000+ Virtual Attendees at IFA 2020; rooom Also Joins the Khronos Group as a Contributor to Online 3D Graphics Standards
rooom has announced it has emerged from stealth with a total investment of €6M and a range of major new customers relying on the company’s new integrated platform for creating, managing, and sharing integrated online 3D virtual experiences. The lead investor to-date in rooom is bm-t (Beteiligungsmanagement Thueringen GmbH) along with several business angels in Germany.
rooom (the three o’s in the company name symbolize the 3 dimensions of space) is Web-based (no downloads required) and runs on desktop computers, smartphones and tablets with equal aplomb. Unlike competing solutions, rooom environments can be used without a VR or AR headset – users access digital content such as 3D models and virtual rooms, stages and more via any browser from any device through the power of WebGL from the Khronos Group. VR and AR headset functionality is also supported for users who possess a Facebook Oculus HMD (Oculus support is currently in Beta) or supported AR headsets. To walk through a range of event 3D environments and to check out sample videos, imagery and more, please visit https://press.eventcloud.rooom.com/news. Rooom’s own press launch was held in a persistent, abstract environment designed in experienceCloud that can be enjoyed at https://press.eventcloud.rooom.com/.
With rooom, you don’t have to hire an agency to create your digital experience – the self-service platform is so comprehensive and easy-to-use that anyone can create complex 3D experiences without special knowledge or skills. Users can choose between best-practice templates for both showrooms and events and rooom also provide an extensive 3D object library with furniture, exhibition booths, decoration, advertising space and much more.
Customers can create a custom environment with just a few clicks and reuse content easily. In 2020 and 2021 (despite still being under wraps), a wide range of industry leaders such as Augmented World Expo 2021, Carl Zeiss AG, Deutsche Telekom, DHL, E.ON, Mars, PwC, and Vodafone (amongst others) came to rely on rooom to offer hybrid or fully-online 3D events and experiences during the pandemic.
One of the most influential was the IFA 2020 show, which had more than 200,000 attendees and was fully-based on rooom for its online component. IFA is known as ‘Europe’s biggest tech show’ and is one of the world’s leading events for consumer electronics and home appliances.
With rooom’s experienceCloud, all the marketing and visualization needs of multiple industries across a diverse range of use-cases have been merged into a single, easy-to-use platform made up of 4 different components:
- eventCloud—with eventCloud, customers from all over the world benefit from a flexible and comprehensive solution through which they can plan and implement all their internal and external events simply, quickly and 100% Web-based.
- spaceCloud—using rooom’s spaceCloud, companies can present their services in completely interactive online 3D showrooms. Customers can explore rooms, halls or entire worlds simply by using a mobile or desktop device. Also possible are 360-degree tours based on scans.
- productCloud—with rooom’s productCloud, product manufacturers and sellers have the opportunity to present their products online in 3D. Customers can experience the 3D models without an app directly via the browser from all angles in 3D and bring colors, surface textures and product details to life. Models can be created from existing 3D data, from photos or videos or by using the rooom 3D Scan app.
- immerseCloud—immersecloud offers companies and organizations of any industry the possibility to use augmented reality in a simple way for new marketing strategies. Real estate agents can enhance exposés with 3D models, product manufacturers can use 3D product visualizations, cultural institutions can expand exhibitions and attractions, and publishers can bring books to life with AR.
To deliver all the incredible 3D creations of experienceCloud to the widest-possible audience, rooom relies upon the open 3D visualization standards promulgated by the Khronos Group and as such has joined the organization as a Contributor to enable the company to participate in the future development of standards such as WebGL, glTF and WebVR, amongst others.
Quotes:
“The Khronos Group is delighted to welcome rooom as a new member as we share a vision of the power of 3D online experiences,” said Neil Trevett, President of the Khronos Group. “Khronos members are developing open, royalty-free standards for 3D and XR user interfaces that form a foundation of pervasive 3D interactive graphics that can enrich people’s everyday lives. Rooom embodies the mission of leveraging these interoperability standards to create 3D experiences that are accessible on any device, be it a head mounted display, desktop, or mobile device. Khronos welcomes rooom’s participation in the ongoing construction of the metaverse.”
“I’m so excited about rooom’s offering that we decided to join forces for the upcoming AWE 2021,” said Augmented World Expo co-founder Ori Inbar. “rooom will be featuring a special experience for virtual attendees of the event this November – the typical virtual event is flat, and many attempts to make it 3D are either clunky or not accessible to a wide audience. So, we wanted to offer online attendees a fantastic re-imagining of the AWE event space. The key highlights of the rooom experience for AWE include a welcome hall and access to the main stage with live streaming of the keynotes, a futuristic expo hall with the main sponsors, the AWE Playground hall with snippets of the AR and VR experiences and the Auggie Awards stage with a ceremony showcasing the finalists. I really can’t wait to see the reaction of our virtual attendees to this striking spectacle.”
“experienceCloud is the culmination of more than 3 years of development to create the ultimate 3D experiences without falling victim to using multiple platforms, mixing and matching products and learning several different user interfaces,” said Hans Elstner, CEO and co-founder of rooom.com. “Unlike so many other competitors, we see 3D virtual events as best experienced through a standard browser – we are excited to support VR and AR HMD’s as well for those lucky enough to own them, but we believe in democratizing 3D to the widest possible audience. Moving forward, we plan to announce a wide range of new customers, product enhancements and more in 2021.”
