Urbanbase, a Seoul-based company that develops a 3D spatial data platform for interior planning and design, announced today that it has raised $ 11.1 million (13 billion won) in a round of the B + Series as it increases.
This round of funding was led by Hanwha Hotel & Resort, which is a subsidiary of the South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Corporation.
Urbanbase, founded in 2013 by CEO and former architect Jinu Ha, has raised $ 20 million (approximately 23 billion won) in total.
Existing investors did not join this round. The company had secured $ 1.8 million in Series A funding and an additional $ 1.2 million in 2017 and its first round of Series B in April 2020, from sponsors that included Shinsegae Information & Communication based in South Korea, Woomi Construction, Investment Ltd., KDB Capital, Shinhan Capital, Enlight Ventures, CKD Venture Capital and Breeze Investment, Ha said.
The latest funding will be used to improve its B2B SaaS, investing in R&D for advanced virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and 3D tools, which are considered basic metaverse technologies, which is the its new business that Urbanbase plans to enter. a Ha. The size of the global metaverse market is projected to increase by $ 280 billion in 2025, from $ 30.7 billion in 2021, according to the Strategy Analytics report.
Companies that focus on so-called “metaverse” opportunities have grown as part of a next-generation approach to building viable business models in areas such as virtual and augmented reality, and all the hardware and software and the new technologies that are being built for them. The big tech corporations, ranging from Facebook, Intel and Microsoft, are aiming to move around the area. Apple also entered the area of virtual reality, working on the development of high-end VR headsets.
Urbanbase also plans to upgrade its home interior software platform, Urbanbase Studio, which has features to transform 2D interior space images into 3D displays using Urbanbase’s patented algorithm, visualize interior products in augmented reality and analyze spatial images based on AI technology.
Urbanbase claims 50,000 monthly active users with 70,000 registered B2C users. The company has about 50 B2B customers.
“Most of our B2B customers are large conglomerates in South Korea and Japan, for example, LG Electronics, Mitsubishi Real Estate Service based in Japan, Nitori Holdings, Dentsu Group and SoftBank, but we would like to expand our B2B customer base to small, medium – sized businesses and bring in more B2C users after closing the B + Series funding, “Ha said.
Urbanbase is looking for an acquisition target in near-tech and construction technology sectors, he told TechCrunch. Urbanbase is currently focusing on developing interior tools for apartment buildings, as approximately 70-80 percent of all households in South Korea and Japan live in apartments, Ha said, adding that it will diversify its portfolio acquiring a startup that covers different types of residence.
It currently operates the platform in Korean and Japanese, but will add a service in English before entering Singapore in late 2021, Ha said.