Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality go hand in hand to achieve something that has never been accomplished before. The experience of AR/VR technology is exhilarating. Many applications in this field are available to be explored, as you can have access to these technologies right in your hand in your smartphone and there are several creative things that you can do with it. Paracosmais one of the leading companies in AR/VR technologies providing solutions for your business to empower and propel it to the forefront of immersive technology.
Below are the highlights of our Interview with Ken Ehrhart, Founder and CEO of Paracosma
Tell us about the genesis of Paracosma?
When consumer VR was launched in 2016, 88% of companies planned VR projects but over 54% said they were extremely likely to outsource VR development because they did not have enough developers with VR skills. Paracosma was founded to serve that need by providing enough affordable, high-skill VR developers to enable any company to succeed in VR. Subsequently, we added AR development and full 3D art content creation services. Now we offer both “Developer as a Service” (DaaS) and “Modelling as a Service” (MaaS) solutions to our clients. This has been hugely successful, with satisfied customers generating 88% of our 2021 revenue as repeat business.
What was your inspiration behind entering the AR/VR market?
With the Moore’s Law advancements in processing and graphics capability, higher bandwidth and displays, AR and VR became possible along with a much broader transition from 2D to 3D computing. This 2D to 3D transition is enabling not just AR/VR but also self-driving cars, additive manufacturing (3D printing), even deep fake videos. In addition to AR/VR services, Paracosma offers photorealistic modelling to replace studio photography with renders of 3D scenes, the creation of synthetic images in bulk for training deep learning AI systems, virtual video production, and more. This 2D to 3D transition is disrupting all of computing and offering great opportunities to companies that can leverage the 3D skill sets that Paracosma offers to our clients.
What makes Paracosma a preferred choice for your clients over other competitors in the AR/VR space?
As a company founded to focus on VR, Paracosma is a pure-play AR/VR/3D solutions provider. We are not distracted by legacy web or mobile app development, instead 100% of our developers are focused on 3D technologies. Beyond that our diverse team of 110 developers and artists are highly specialized experts in various areas of focus. Therefore, our specialists’ quality exceeds that of smaller teams of 3D generalists. We can be our clients’ one-stop-shop for AR/VR/3D. Even if they have not fully fleshed out their requirements when they seek out a partner, they can be confident we can deliver what they might need. We are also rapidly growing our capacity, so we can scale resources with our clients as their projects multiply.
How do you induce and implement technological advancements and innovation in business offerings and operations at Paracosma?
AR/VR are one of the fastest innovating sectors of technology. Driven by technology advancements, what we can do today goes well beyond what was possible just a short time ago. Because we are continuously growing our teams, we can assign experts to deeply understand and adopt innovations as they emerge. Thus, we can offer clients the latest solutions as they become commercially viable. In many cases, our clients’ own vision for AR/VR exceeds current solutions and we have the opportunity to develop in-house the technology needed to meet their needs. Thus, our own innovation is driven by necessity.
Tell us about your contribution to Paracosma achieving its position in the AV/VR market.
As a solutions provider delivering services to other companies, Paracosma’s success is entirely dependent on the quality of our output and the success of our clients. With 88% of revenues coming from repeat business, it validates that we are consistently delivering the quality and innovation our clients demand at affordable prices on reliable timelines. Our success is driven by our Art Director, SaroseTuiTui and our teams of artists; by our VR director, Sheetal Maharjan, and our VR teams; by our Media Director, Kritika Bhandari, and our audio and video teams; by our AR Director, Sanam Shrestha, and his team. I am the Founder & CEO of Paracosma, but our success is attributable to our skilled engineers and talented artists.
How has the recent COVID-19 pandemic affected the AR/VR space? What do you think will be the future of AR/VR post-COVID-19?
Video conferencing exploded in the pandemic as schools and workplaces went remote. As companies gradually return to the office, knowledge workers are demanding retention of remote options and hybrid workplaces are becoming the norm. Many companies are embracing these changes because it allows them to recruit and integrate more talent from broader geographies and increase the overall quality of their teams. This has generated an important shift for Paracosma, because now there is little distinction between our clients’ direct employees and Paracosma’s experts deployed alongside them. Thus, our business has transitioned from clients outsourcing projects to us, to clients insourcing our developers and artists as an integral part of their roadmap. This allows them to scale faster, and more affordably, than they could through direct recruiting alone.
Tell us in what ways Paracosma is contributing to the betterment of the corporate community and society.
Paracosma’s Mission is “to use AR and VR to improve the Real World”. As a founding member of the International VR for Healthcare Association, Paracosma is very active with clients in the medical VR space. This is hugely rewarding, because our clients’ end products and solutions are helping people every day. In many cases, VR is enabling FDA approved digital therapies for conditions that previously could not be treated by other means. We are also providing surgery training, to improve patient outcomes without the risk of “practicing” on real patients. As co-founders of the VR for Good conference with VRVoice, we have been able to highlight the numerous ways VR can contribute to society and quality of life.
What are your future aspirations for the company? Where do you see Paracosma in upcoming years?
Historically, Paracosma has served large enterprise companies who needed AR/VR expertise to realize their ambitions. Today, as more and more AR/VR companies receive significant funding, the demand for skilled AR/VR developers and 3D artists vastly surpasses availability in the US and Europe. But, Paracosma’s global footprint means we are able to serve that demand, both with our existing team and through rapid scaling. As fast as we can recruit, onboard, train and deploy new developers and artists we have demand, both from existing clients and new partners. Our challenge is to grow faster than our clients’ demand, so we can continue to expand to new clients as well.
What advice do you want to give to budding entrepreneurs aspiring to enter the Virtual Reality space?
People ask, “what is the killer app for VR?” I answer, “what is the killer app for real life?” Whatever you can do in real life, you can do in VR; plus things that are impossible in real life because they are too dangerous or expensive; plus anything that could be dreamed of or imagined in a fantasy world. Therefore, there is an enormous, I would say “unlimited”, opportunity for AR/VR. So, my advice is to pursue your passion with a view to the broader 2D to 3D transition. If you have the domain expertise, entrepreneurial ambition and creative vision to make something great in AR/VR, then contact us and we can help you make it happen.