Get All Access for $5/mo

This Reliance-owned Deep-Tech Start-Up Wants To Bring Mixed Reality To the Masses Even as technologies such as augmented, virtual and mixed reality becoming the new buzzwords in the start-up ecosystem, India hasn't seen a steady adoption of these among the masses. Tesseract wants that to change.

By Debroop Roy

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

Shutterstock

Imagine playing cricket inside a tiny room with glass windows. The rules would be such that hitting a six could end up in you paying up for a broken window pane.

Now, imagine if the ball was virtual and would behave the exactly the same way as a real one, except it can't break a real glass. That's what mixed reality is all about wherein the real and virtual worlds exist and interact simultaneously.

A start-up based in Mumbai plans to bring this cutting-edge technology to the masses.

Tesseract, which was acquired by conglomerate Reliance Industries earlier this year, was founded in 2015 by Kshitij Marwah. Its first product was a 360 degree camera to capture content for virtual reality.

Manufacturing Hardware

Even though the idea and designs were in place, the difficult part was manufacturing the end product.

"You need to have a premium looking product that you can actually go out and sell to your first set of clients", said Devesh Jain, lead architect for augmented reality at Tesseract.

But for a start-up that was then bootstrapped, getting a premium looking product was a big challenge, he said. "The thing with making anything look premium is that you need to go to these local manufacturers, spend lakhs of rupees and they make you 10,000 units."

Considering that they were just starting, such a big investment seemed unlikely for Tesseract, Jain said, speaking on the sidelines of Unite India 2019 held in Kochi last week.

So, the company went to small manufacturers, convincing and pushing them to help them through their little experiment. And it worked.

"Over the four years, that's how we have been able to keep our manufacturing costs low," he said.

One Size Doesn't Fit All

The company is in the process of creating a suite of devices, aimed at catering to multiple sectors.

"What we believe is that there's not one single device that fits it all," Jain said, explaining that a regular lifestyle use product would need to be designed very differently from something made specifically for something like education or healthcare.

Instead of creating a simple device, Tesseract wants to develop the entire ecosystem. It is also developing its own operating system that would allow cross-device functionality.

To the Masses

One of the earliest decisions the company made was to make the technology accessible to the masses and for that, they needed to come up with products that are available at affordable prices.

"The core idea was that for India, we do not want a $1,500 headset...we wanted something that could be around $100," Jain said.

Debroop Roy

Former Correspondent

Covering the start-up ecosystem in and around Bangalore. Formerly an energy reporter at Reuters. A film, cricket buff who also writes fiction on weekends.
News and Trends

India's Data Center Capacity to Reach 2,070 MW by End of 2025: CBRE

Cumulative investment commitments in the data center sector in India to cross USD 100 billion by 2027. Mumbai, Chennai, and Delhi-NCR to lead data center supply addition

Growth Strategies

Amazon To Improve Services In Tier II, III Cities: Samir Kumar, Country Manager

The bigger share of our business is coming from Tier II,III and beyond, says Samir Kumar, country manager, Amazon India

Business News

These Companies Offer the Best Work-Life Balance, According to Employees

The ranking is based on Glassdoor ratings and reviews.

News and Trends

Multiples Private Equity Leads INR 1000 Cr Funding in Shubham Housing

With the raised funds, the Gurugram-based platform aims to propel its growth trajectory, diversifying its product offerings and strengthening its national footprint.

News and Trends

Former Cleartrip CEO Ayyappan R Eyes Quick Commerce with FirstClub

After stepping down as Cleartrip's CEO earlier this year, Ayyappan brings his expertise from leading positions at Flipkart, including his role as chief business officer at Myntra.