Digital twin startup Resonai Inc. announced today that it has closed on a $20 million extension to its Series A round of funding, bringing the total amount raised to $30 million. New investors, including Meitav-Dash, Blue Square Israel and Irani Ventures, all participated in the round, as did existing backers SBI, Vive Nevo and Redds Capital. Resonai is the creator of the Vera platform, which uses artificial intelligence and augmented reality technology to convert physical spaces into intelligent digital environments that enable more immersive, real-world experiences. Using the Vera platform, a theater space, retail setting, a spacious apartment or any other kind of building can be scanned and sent to Vera's AR cloud to create a highly accurate 3D digital twin. This virtual space then becomes available via the cloud and is connected to Vera operated apps and mobile devices.

Tel Aviv, Israel-based Resonai aims to build the "digital square foot" and prepare the built world for its "mixed-reality" future. The company is looking to transform physical spaces into intelligent, digitally empowered environments. After successfully growing and steering the $60 million sale of Pebbles Interfaces to Meta's Oculus in 2014, Emil Alon founded Resonai in order to develop a new OS that would converge the physical, built world with emerging digital and web technologies. "Augmented reality is going to dramatically change the world we live in and the way we experience it today," he told VentureBeat. "It will require a new paradigm of ownership, accountability and privacy in a world where everything can be reshaped seamlessly for users at any given time."

Technology has completely infiltrated the built environment. Between IoT connectivity in buildings, indoor wayfinding and virtual tours, real estate is no longer the tech-averse industry it once was. In the context of digitization, there are new uses for Augmented Reality (AR). The technology has evolved from a marketing gimmick to a solid strategy for asset managers to improve their built environments. The premise of AR technology is the real-time integration of digital information to "augment" the user's physical experience.

Have you ever wondered why supermarkets don't offer augmented reality guides to the locations of their products? Instead of criss-crossing the store, hunting for the tomato juice or the paprika, why can't you upload your shopping list into something like Google Maps and have it guide you on the most efficient route around the aisles? It's not because supermarket owners are afraid you won't make impulse purchases. It's because that sort of navigation (or wayfinder) technology is hard. In 2015, Emil Alon sold a company to Facebook for $60m.

San Jose, CA, May 31, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Tech Museum of Innovation is opening a new immersive exhibit which invites visitors to collaborate with AI-powered robots to bring their creations to life. With Animaker, visitors step into a large-scale projection of a jungle temple where robots invite them to form animals out of LEGO/Duplo bricks. Their creations are analyzed by the robots, incorporating cutting edge 3D-scanning technology and an AI-powered search engine that understands 3D content. The animals then come to life in a virtual ancient temple, and can be personalized by changing their look and behavior. This is the first experience in the world where children play and learn about AI by training machines to recognize different interpretations of real world objects.