Our AR/VR content gaining good traction among edtech players

The world of content is slowly moving towards augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) powered solutions for better audience engagement. Similarly, 3D models have emerged as the mainstay for edtech platforms. To cash in such emerging opportunities, 'Perceived Design' has come up with many new solutions that will not only improve communication efficiency, but also reduce operational cost for edtech players. In a conversation with Bizz Buzz, Uttam Kumar Pandey, founder and CEO, Perceived Design, said the company is seeing good traction for its solutions from edtech players. It is also looking at realty players and FMCG firms for helping them increase their audience engagement. The boot-strapped firms is currently mulling to raise an angel round of funding to support its growth in the near future

There are also other platforms which are not so much into live classes, but want to improve the quality of the videos. In that perspective, they want to inculcate 3D interactivity into those videos. Till now, these things are done post production, which takes a lot of time and resources. However, our solutions enable the edtech players to do it live, which reduce a lot of cost

Real estate sector is likely to do better after the pandemic receded. The demand in the realty sector is expected to surge as situation normalises. People buy what they see and real estate companies can sell more by showcasing their products in a better way

How has the business performed in 2020 amid the pandemic? Have you seen increasing demand for your services due to faster migration to digital interfaces?

We started our operations in 2019. After that Covid hit the globe. So, we had operated for a month under the pre-Covid period. We had reached out to edtech companies, e-Commerce firms and real estate firms during this period. Our major focus is on education and real estate, but realty sector is not doing that great at this point of time. In the first year of our operations, we have done a decent business. This financial year looks very promising. We have good developments at our platform and introduced many features. For e-Commerce companies, we have introduced device-agnostic products. It means the content can be consumed in any device, be it a mobile or a desktop. In the education sector, AR/VR (augmented reality & virtual reality) attracts edtech players. For solo teachers (in edtech platforms), 3D interactive features are very useful.

Can you throw some light how AR/VR content is enabling edtech platforms to engage their audience?

There are some platforms which provide live classes. Right now, teachers are using PPT (power point presentation) to tech students. What they want is while the teacher is teaching, a 3D picture should popup related to the subject on the direction of the teacher. Usually, such 3D pictures are integrated post-production means after the teaching is recorded. However, our solutions enable to integrate these 3D features while teaching. That helps these edtech firms reduce a lot of post-production cost, communication time among others. It also improves communication efficiency.

There are also other platforms, which are not so much into live classes, but want to improve the quality of the videos. In that perspective, they want to inculcate 3D interactivity into those videos. Till now, these things are done post-production, which takes a lot of time and resources. However, our solutions enable the edtech players to do it live, which reduce a lot of cost.

Content generated through AR, VR and 3D modelling is in high demand due to rising adoption of digital edtech players. What motivated you to start 'Perceived Design'?

We have been working on this area for quite some time which inspired me to start such a venture. I worked with Byju's as senior creative associate and art director. I was among the first teams, which used to create high quality video content for the company. This was in 2014. Though I am an engineer, I have been an artist since childhood. My thought process is aligned to art, design and technology. That experience came handy. After Byju's, I also worked with Entropik Tech, which is an emotion AI (artificial intelligence) company. In this stint, I was working with how business and design can be co-related with emotion. Here I understood that there is a huge scope for engagement improvement. That inspired me to launch solutions with AR/VR content.

Are you working with any consumer brand? What's your experience in that space?

Currently, we are focusing on the education segment. Also, the consumer brands are laying low (due to the pandemic). However, we have worked with few sellers of some big e-Commerce companies to better showcase their products.

We have seen traction in the other verticals also. We are trying to scale things on both the sides. However, the demand is more on the education segment. Also, we need a huge repository of content for operating in the education segment. We are continuously building on that and working with different brands. We are getting insights on what should be built and how it should be built. On the brands and e-Commerce space, the demand of huge content is low due to the pandemic.

Real estate sector is not doing good due to the pandemic. However, we know that digital interfaces powered with AR/VR and 3D modelling are in demand in recent years. What are your plans for this segment?

Real estate sector is likely to do better after the pandemic receded. The demand in the realty sector is expected to surge as situation normalises. People buy what they see and real estate companies can sell more by showcasing their products in a better way.

How big is the team now? Are you planning to increase the team size in the near future?

We are a small team now. We are in the 10-20 people bracket. Addition of people will depend on the business growth.

How is your liquidity situation now? Are you looking at raising funds from angel investors or doing a pre-series A round?

We are completely boot-strapped as of now and have not raised any money so far. However, we are looking at raising some funds now. If our revenue run rate increases, we may also wait for some more time. Our approach is to scale up operations first and then raise money. We have spoken to some angel investors and venture capital players last year. We are looking at raising around $1 million of funding which is kind of an angel round. This is because once we have higher revenues, we will build up other verticals apart from scaling up operations in the edtech verticals.