Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck a former Googler used to raise $2.1 million for his augmented reality marketplace Poplar
CEO David Ripert, a first-time entrepreneur who left Google in 2018 to start Poplar, began fundraising in January and closed the round in mid-May. Augmented reality remains a nascent space, but Ripert said brands and customers are taking a greater interest in everything from virtually trying on products to branded face filters.
. Augmented reality marketplace startup Poplar has closed a $2.1 million seed round, kicking off and closing its raise despite the ongoing pandemic and a slowdown in startup investment. Chief executive David Ripert founded Poplar in 2018, after leaving a high-paid job at Google's YouTube. The startup promises augmented reality and 3D ad campaigns on demand, pairing brands to a marketplace of creators who can rustle up a sponsored filter or virtual product, perhaps more cheaply than a digital agency. The company is a trusted partner for Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok. Poplar was born out of Founders Factory, the UK startup factory cofounded by serial entrepreneur and investor Brent Hoberman.Its new fundraise was led by Fuel Ventures, with participation from Haatch Ventures, Ascension Ventures and Super Ventures. "We started [raising] at the end of January — everything was going well, we were talking to the lots of investors from the biggest US VCs to boutique VCs here in the UK and angels," Ripert told Business Insider. "Then in March the crisis hit and that was really scary." Ripert added, though, that prospective investors had noted that people's use of social media would tick up through the pandemic, and that retailers deprived of a high street presence would need to look to innovative ways to sell products. "They couldn't do out-of-home [advertising] any more, billboards, stuff on the Tube," Ripert said. Poplar has 1,600 AR and 3D creators on its platform, and has helped brands including MG Motors, Disney, Universal Music, and Speedo launch AR campaigns.
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