With its various filters and the launch of Spectacles, Snap’s interest in augmented reality technology is hardly a secret. In fact it seems that the company could be looking to boost their AR capabilities because in a report from The Calcalist (as interpreted by The Times of Israel; via Engadget), Snap has acquired an AR company for $30-$40 million.
The company in question is called Cimagine and if you haven’t heard of them, we guess we don’t blame you. After all not all acquisitions need to be particularly high-profile in nature. That being said, Cimagine is a company that specializes in AR tech. The company has over the past few years created software that lets retailers show off their products in a virtual space using nothing more than your smartphone’s camera.
We’ve seen this done before where some carmakers use similar technology to let customers take a deeper look at their cars and under the hood. We’ve also seen companies like Google attempt similar projects, like with the Tango smartphone, so for Snap to acquire Cimagine to boost Snapchat and/or Spectacles’ AR capabilities shouldn’t really come as a surprise.
As to what exactly they plan to do with the company and their technology remains to be seen, but the report claims that the team at Cimagne will not be disbanded and will actually be folded into Snapchat’s R&D division.