80 START-UP ALLEY TetaVi
TETAVI
COUNTRY: ISRAEL STARTED: 2016
There’s probably no safer way to greet your constituents in the time of a global pandemic, than by turning yourself into a WebAR hologram. While Israel was in lockdown this April, during national Independence Day, the country’s president Reuven Rivlin did just this, marking the occasion by “transporting” himself into people’s homes. All they needed to do was to scan a QR code, and could even grab a selfie. This was made possible thanks to volumetric video – the process of capturing moving images of the real world, people or objects, that can be later viewed from any angle, at any moment in time. One of the companies involved in the project, which generated thousands of views in just two days, was the Tel Aviv based start-up TetaVi, founded four years ago by computer vision veteran Dr Miky Tamir (also founder of the virtual studio firm Orad, bought by Avid in 2015) and fellow expert, Micha Birnbaum. The firm’s volumetric capture system, which requires no green screen or markers, has the ability to generate broadcast quality volumetric content with four to eight synchronised and gated depth cameras. It also claims to handle fast motion while capturing a level of detail that would normally require dozens of cameras. TetaVi’s CEO Gilad Talmon, who joined the team two years ago, explains that the system is driven by machine learning, with algorithms designed to make data from the cameras more efficient. This ensures VOLUMETRIC VIDEO GIVES MOBILE GAMING THE ABILITY TO CREATE LIFE- LIKE CHARACTERS CHEAPLY
of ‘real life’ players to create an esports ‘experience’. To this end, Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club is using the technology to create holographic assets of players that will be used for various AR applications such as games, fan engagement and in- arena excitement. According to Talmon, there are six units of this portable system in use, with two more in the final stages of signing and a few more in the preliminary stages. TetaVi’s R&D studio is located in Tel Aviv, and it also has commercial studios in New York, LA and Tokyo. While the company claims that the hardware is lightweight and easy to ship, the aim, adds Talmon, is to reach the stage where the system is completely software based, allowing the firm to pursue an SAAS business model. “We have a pretty significant AI component to the processing, which generates the 3D assets. Our roadmap is to take this component and increase it until we are disengaged from specific hardware,” he says. Talmon adds that providing limited licences to social media firms such as TikTok or Snapchat would allow people to create their own volumetric content on their mobile phones – and is also something that they are working on. At the other end of the spectrum, broadcast quality immersive entertainment is another potential use case – particularly since Covid-19 – as AR and VR companies start to explore experiences that allow artists to perform in virtual worlds. The firm is providing the tech at hardware costs, but predicts that most of its revenue will be generated around content licensing. To date, it has raised over $4m in a Series A round, led by REDDS Capital, with participation from Korean-American VC firm Asia Alpha, as well as angel investors. The investment will help the company leverage machine learning and AI in its development of holograms and other 3D imaging. The firm is also in the final stage of a second funding round, with the aim of raising a further $5m, which it hopes to complete by early September.
FOUNDING FATHER TetaVi was founded by Dr Miky Tamir (above), a much-respected expert in the field of computer vision
that high-end results are achieved. “There isn’t a single algorithm in there that isn’t driven or controlled by neural networks,” he adds. Use cases to date have involved advertising and digital campaigns, although the firm is garnering interest from mobile gaming developers, particularly in territories that have seen widespread 5G take-up. Talmon explains, “Most popular mobile games tend to be 2D experiences, and that’s mainly because of the processing power that 3D requires. “Volumetric video gives mobile gaming the ability to create life-like characters cheaply, which is also enabled by 5G as well as new compression and streaming technologies.” TetaVi’s early customers include an undisclosed telco that wants to build an immersive strategy around 5G; the Canadian esports outfit ePlay, which is integrating TetaVi’s technology to create and publish 3D holograms for an esports and entertainment mobile game platform; and a Spanish sports company that wants to bring esports into the physical domain, by enabling sports leagues to use holograms to increase fan engagement and drive in-app purchases. Other firms want to use TetaVi to achieve the opposite: taking holograms
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