What happens when a tech-savvy IITian goes to saree shopping with his partner? The answer is a startup ‘Imaginate’ whose output is a plug and play virtual fitting room Dressy. Telugu360 is in conversation with the founder Hemanth Satyanarayana who tells us about his experience from Dressy to NuSpace…
From 2011 to 2017, Imaginate has come a long way. Where did it all start?
Sure. I completed my B.Tech in the stream of Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras and wanted to my masters in an interdisciplinary field. I was considering Robotics but then a new field showed up Virtual Reality(VR). I did my Masters from State University of New York at Buffalo but thesis was in Augmented Reality(AR). I worked for couple of startups in the US before moving back to India. I was contemplating on various things, when VR started picking up. I stuck to my field and started a small shop Imaginate in 2011 in Hyderabad.
How did Dressy Happen?
I went for shopping with my wife and understood the pain it was to figure out how a lady looks in a particular saree. In 2009-11 large LCD screens become more affordable and we thought why not attach a camera to it. We developed virtual fitting room at the time when Microsoft Kinect was not there. We were early movers and bootstrapped. Long story short, Dressy started off like a kiosk kind of a magic mirror, transformed to website and now as a backend web-service which will enable e-commerce sites with snapchat like dressing room. For four years, we worked on it and last year we stopped any further development of the product.
What made you redraw your plans?
We did not stop sales but stopped product enhancements for Dressy. The reason being we realized that new field VR and AR is picking up in a very massive way. Besides Dressy, for four years we were doing small but cutting edge VR work every year, to sustain ourselves. Despite not having any prominent product in the space, our work helped us establish ourselves among the top companies which are doing VR AR work. Time was right and we wanted to do something phenomenal and not just work on one product. Last year we decided to develop a product in VR and AR space and make a big impact.
So that’s how NuSpace happened?
Not yet, last year we created an interactive marketing solution for Tech Mahindra which was demonstrated at mobile world congress at Barcelona – Mother of all conferences in telecom tech space. No other company in Barcelona, had anything in VR. That gave us a lot of mileage. Then we decided to do something very concrete. We worked for a brief period with Met Life, incidentally our largest customer. We enabled a 1-1 customer solution and a sales platform using VR. The idea is to have an in-person in-branch like experience using VR, for customers to resolve any of the queries about the policies. It was only towards end of last year, we identified our problem statement and came up with the product NuSpace.
Tell us about NuSpace?
Sure. NuSpace is a very broad platform that we are building. It caters to different fields. It is a multi-user and multi-device immersive conference solution where-in we have an endpoint to all devices. We enable everyone to connect in one shared virtual world using VR and AR. We are bringing best of both web-ex and in-person interactive experience through NuSpace. The traction has been great from both US and India. Right now, we are targeting heavy equipment space, next is health care and then going down to the consumer as well. In February this year, we got funded for $500,000 from US investor SRI capital. Effectively we want to cover learning platform and collaboration which can happen in lot of spectrums.
Your presence is in both the US and India. How does it work?
We started in India simultaneously registered a US entity. The US entity bought the Indian company completely last year. So now we are US company with a subsidiary in India. The reason for doing so, is since we are deep tech company, we wanted to be well equipped for future investments. I travel for 6months a year and we have team strength of 16 with two of them in Bay Area and Philadelphia in the US and the operations is from India.
How different is the marketability for Imaginate in both the countries?
In any country B2B sales usually takes lot of time and money. US is bigger market for us and needs bigger muscle to tackle the market. We have been in India, so lot of big companies identify us. Reach to Indian large entity is quite easy but the market in the US is big. Reachability coupled with market size then it is India for Imaginate.
With the funding you raised, you want to work on collaboration tools. Can you explain?
Collaboration happens through audio, video, white board to communicate, gestures. These different tools are audio based tools, video based tools and gesture recognition technology. With hardware tools like HTC vibe, Oculus rift from Facebook, you are in a magical new world and remote to other person and point to various things. Without that hardware you cannot point, without our software you cannot talk to them.
You are part of XLR8 Andhra Pradesh. Can you share your experience?
Yes. I am originally from Tirupati and nothing could excite me more than XLR8AP. It is a technology business accelerator powered by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and IC2 Institute of the University of Texas at Austin. Imaginate was part of the Cohorts. But our business was growing here in Hyderabad. So, we could not make the most out the program. It is a management pedagogy for people who did not go for MBA program. XLR8AP is looking for hardware intensive companies and with very high innovation quotient. There were great learnings in my stint at the accelerator.
For whom would you recommend XLR8AP?
It is only for serious people and they conduct the programme very effectively. There is also a guarantee that they are not going to run away with your idea which often happens with startups. I recommend this programme to early stage and highly innovative idea who are not going to give up. But if the startup is in growth stage, then one may not have enough time to commit. Also, if a serious entrepreneur is able to dedicate the time, XLR8AP will help the company to take it to a next level.
Anything they can do better?
Yes, they can do better with partnerships and venture capital firms especially thoughtful investors or angels. If XLR8AP can excite investors to come and constantly talk to innovators that will make a huge difference. Another area is corporate connects. XLR8AP can ask prominent people to come-in and offer small-talk, like some big CIO, and also startups can get to pitch to him.
You have developed ShootAR for Indian Army. Is there any work going on there?
Yes, we created Indian Army’s first augmented reality simulator Shootar. A soldier who is inside a room, once he wears the augmented reality goggles, he will be able to see virtual terrorists popping up. He has a sensor control gun prototype which he uses to shoot those terrorists. We have done this for Indian Army. However, now we are not doing exactly the same but something tangential in AR for them.
Finally, what’s your advice to startups?
I am an investor myself and have invested in couple of startups. So, my advice is don’t worry too much about technology unless it is hardcore new age tech. If it is a tech you know that many people can do, then assume that it can be done in some way or the other. Don’t be locked in the zone that just because you are an engineer you need to build the tech. Worry only about your customer. Be a salesman more than engineer.
