Byond is launching a publishing platform for companies to create augmented reality, virtual reality, and 360-degree applications. It’s one more set of tools designed to get enterprises and brands to take the plunge into promising new technologies.
The Los Angeles-based startup has created the Byond Immersive Suite to make it easier for companies to create, upload, and published immersive content. Byond says that no coding skills are required, and building content can take a matter of minutes. Platform companies such as Apple and Google have launched platforms to support AR, while others are supporting VR. That makes creating cross-platform apps more of a hassle.
Byond has been working on the tech for two years in Los Angeles and Israel, and it has been testing it for six months with brands and media companies. Paying customers include McCann, Coca-Cola, Samsung, HP and Turner. Right now, the company says that creating immersive media requires a lot of skill. Brands and agencies can’t really do the work themselves, so they hire VR and AR studios that specialize in making custom apps. The product is available now.
As part of the Immersive Suite, Byond has created solutions tailored to specific verticals such as consumer engagement for brands, media consumption for publishers, virtual store builder for ecommerce businesses, as well as immersive VR and AR tools for learning, training and development.
“Byond offers a platform as a service to empower brands and agencies to create their own personalized interactive and immersive experiences,” said Eran Galil, founder and chief technology officer of Byond, in a statement. “By using the Byond Immersive Suite, we significantly reduce the complexity of creating, publishing and analyzing new media applications, across all multiple display and interaction devices.”
Byond’s initial closed beta phased reached 300,000 viewers and over 2 million immersive interactions across a multiple industries and platforms. With the release of Byond’s open beta phase, the company plans on scaling up the usage of their immersive reality content creation platform. Byond has 15 employees.
