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AR-based Social Media Networking Company Flam Raises $3.5 Mn In Seed funding The Seed capital will be used to fuel growth and user engagement on Flam's new social media features, build a scalable next-gen AR engine, drive massive AR adoption and expand to international markets

By Prabhjeet Bhatla

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Flam, an augmented reality (AR)-based social media networking company, on Wednesday, announced its Seed funding round of $3.5 million led by Silicon Valley Quad and Inventus Capital Partners SV, 9Unicorns, Kwaish Ventures, and a few prominent angel investors also participated in the round.

"There is immense potential in the AR space today. We are excited to see investors' serious confidence in Flam. Even as big tech companies double down on a variety of AR use cases, we believe that social media networking will play a key role in the massive adoption of AR. This seed funding will enable us to drive this shift towards AR for social interactions. Our goal is to be the frontrunner in representing consumer AR tech across the globe," said Shourya Agarwal, co-founder, and chief executive officer, Flam.

The Seed capital will be used to fuel growth and user engagement on Flam's new social media features, build a scalable next-gen AR engine, drive massive AR adoption, and expand to international markets.

"As a deep-tech consumer startup with expertise in augmented reality, our vision is to transform and revolutionize social media interactions. Through FlamCards and our social media network, we are bringing bleeding-edge tech and next-gen product experiences that will enable users to express themselves in the most mesmerizing ways. We are actively hiring our tech leadership to build the first global consumer story out of India," commented Rajat Gupta, co-founder, and chief technology officer, Flam.

The round will also help build a high-quality team with expertise in computer vision, graphics engineering, GPS mapping, social media product development, including growth managers and 3D designers.

"With more than 40 million FlamCard scans in three months, Flam is one of the world's top five consumer AR apps. We trust that our investment will accelerate the company's growth trajectory. We are excited to partner with a young team that is building a global consumer tech company from India, executing our shared vision of transforming the social networking landscape by leveraging AR," stated Manu Rekhi, managing director, Inventus Capital Partners SV, and board member, Flam.

Flam launched its first consumer product "FlamCard', which are printed user videos that can be turned into AR videos when scanned through the Flam app. This is powered by proprietary on-demand marker-based AR technology that is extremely complex to build. Leveraging this expertise in AR technology developed in-house, Flam is now building a social media network based on a next-gen AR engine. This will not only enable global scalability for the social media network for the very first time but will also allow privacy controls to users, on the go.

"We enjoy working with young entrepreneurs and mentoring them to build great global companies. Silicon Valley Quad is impressed by the idea of Flam building a social media network for a global audience and believes in the high-quality leadership at Flam. We are thrilled to be early partners with the founders," added Raju Reddy, founding partner, Silicon Valley Quad, and board member, Flam.

Prabhjeet Bhatla

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