Berlin Around a third of all DAX companies create their 3D content using the software from the start-up Rooom. The Jena-based company is now receiving 17 million euros from investors for further internationalization and expansion of marketing.
The Munich financial investor Marondo Capital is leading the financing round, in which the Technologie Gründerfonds Sachsen (TGFS) and bm-t Beteiligungsmanagement Thüringen as well as other existing investors are also participating.
Given the current difficult financing conditions in the start-up industry, Rooom had to negotiate for a long time until the cash injection was received. “It took a total of one and a half years to realize this round,” said founder and company boss Hans Elstner to the Handelsblatt.
In the meantime, large corporations that were originally interested in investing, such as Intel, Hitachi and Samsung, have pulled out and competitors have filed for bankruptcy. “We are very happy that we have now been able to complete this round,” explains Elstner.
The company, which was founded in 2016 and currently has around 100 employees, has been making losses so far, but wants to change that soon. “The direction of travel is clear: we want to be profitable soon,” says Elstner. This is also becoming increasingly important to investors.
Room offers web-based solutions for creating, managing and displaying 3D content. The most important customers include the car manufacturer BMW, the optics company Zeiss, the furniture company Porta and Deutsche Telekom.
Porta, for example, uses the platform to create 3D models of the facility based on photos. “You can now see in 3D whether the sofa fits into your own four walls,” says Elstner. Telekom has created a virtual sales room via Rooom. Other companies use the software to hold virtual meetings.
Mark Zuckerberg helped Rooom get started
Facebook owner Meta has boosted business worldwide by reorienting the company towards the virtual world, the so-called Metaverse. Elstner can still remember exactly what happened when the Meta founder spoke about the next chapter of his company in the summer of 2021: “The real attention came when Mark Zuckerberg said Metaverse 93 times.”
Rooom also benefited from this. The start-up now works with both Meta and Apple.
>> Read more about it here: This is how the financial world is feeling its way into the metaverse
Sebastian Schirl from the investment bank Bryan, Garnier & Co, which supported the transaction, praised Rooom’s approach of transporting users into virtual worlds without special apps or glasses. Market hopes are high: the financial service Bloomberg Intelligence predicts sales of up to $800 billion for the market in 2024.
In competition with Meta, Apple and the start-up Spatial from New York, Rooom can score points with its origins, according to founder Elstner: “Our location in Europe with the General Data Protection Regulation is a unique selling point.” Customers are concerned with the data It was also important that they used the Deutsche Telekom servers in Germany.
More: Venture capitalists are hesitant, but the number of start-ups is increasing – “These will be the most successful”