Local augmented reality solutions startup, Buzz AR, crossed S$1 million in revenue for the last quarter of 2020 after launching three core deep tech products including Asia Pacific’s first WebAR in the hospitality space. A winner at the 2020 China-ASEAN New Smart City Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition (ASEAN Division), Buzz AR has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Alibaba affiliates, Cloudbae as a strategic partner to accelerate smart city AR/VR applications in the APAC region. Buzz AR is seeking to close a funding round by end Q1.
China is the world’s most populous country and was projected to rank first for AR/VR spending in 2020, and exceed S$26.6 billion by 2024, making China the dominant.
Buzz AR believes that the current ways of engaging users are fragmented – either solely online or offline and that AR will bridge that gap. With more than 3 billion mobile devices having AR capabilities globally, companies can engage with their audience anywhere.
Founded in 2018 by Bell Beh and Ken Lim, Buzz AR has garnered a strong presence regionally with Fortune 500 companies as their clientele. They are part of the current cohort 3 of the Singapore Tourism Accelerator (STA) organised by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). Their flagship WebAR solution which features their otter mascot, Buzzy, is one of STA’s most promising startups.
“Buzz AR has a very bright future. I became smitten with the company after seeing how elegantly it solved real challenges of navigation in a tourism setting.” Said Ian Wilson, advisor and mentor for STB, “Since then, I have also come to appreciate how the tool can add real value for both consumers and businesses through its point of interest and digital billboard functions. Buzz AR is rapidly setting the benchmark by which others in this space will be measured.”
Cloudbae, which runs the China-ASEAN New Smart City Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition (ASEAN Division), sees great potential in their partnership with Buzz AR.
“Today, our services connect our users with 47 government departments, integrate information resources with government data, industry data, and business data, offering more than 100 services to our existing user base of 49.6 million people. Our partnership with Buzz AR allows us to offer one-stop enterprise services to companies in which AR and Big Data are their core focused areas to build smart city applications. My team and I are looking forward to seeing more international businesses bloom in Nanning.” Jobb Zhou, President of Cloudbae said.
Discussions with Cloudbae about incorporating Buzz AR’s solutions in Nanning, as well as to optimise the exhibition services of the ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) are already underway. Buzz AR is also the only foreign company shortlisted by the Shanghai Municipal Government and the Bailian Group – a Fortune 500 company, to be the highlighted project of the third batch of the world’s largest Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC).
To press their momentum and first-mover advantage, Buzz AR is improving on their 3 core products: AR Wayfinder – indoor navigation with avatar guiding people from point A to point B, WebAR – Augmented reality content on the web-based browsers, and BuzzCam, the world’s first Face to Avatar invention, transforming any face, photo to avatar in real-time.
Buzz AR is expecting to close their funding round by the end of Q1 and has started to receive offers from promising investors to dive into this multi-billion industry. For interested businesses and investors, feel free to reach out at biz@buzzar.app
