Flam, the world’s first AR-based social media networking company raises USD 3.5 million in seed funding

• The investment is led by Silicon Valley Quad and Inventus Capital Partners SV
• 9Unicorns, Kwaish Ventures and some prominent angel investors also participated in the round
• FlamCards, the startup’s first product saw explosive usage with over 40 million interactions in the past three months
• The startup is aggressively hiring in India and the US to support future growth

Flam, the world’s first AR-based social media networking company today announced its seed funding round of USD 3.5 million led by Silicon Valley Quad and Inventus Capital Partners SV, 9Unicorns, Kwaish Ventures and a few prominent angel investors also participated in the round. The seed capital will be used to fuel growth and user engagement on Flam’s new social media features, build a scalable next-gen AR engine, drive massive AR adoption, and expand to international markets. The round will also help build a high-quality team with expertise in computer vision, graphics engineering, GPS mapping, social media product development, including growth managers and 3D designers.

Commenting on the fund raise, Shourya Agarwal, Co-Founder and CEO, Flam said, “There is immense potential in the AR space today. We are excited to see investors’ serious confidence in Flam. Even as Big Tech companies double down on a variety of AR use cases, we believe that social media networking will play a key role in the massive adoption of AR. This seed funding will enable us to drive this shift towards AR for social interactions. Our goal is to be the frontrunner in representing consumer AR tech across the globe”.

Flam launched its first consumer product ‘FlamCard’, which are printed user videos that can be turned into AR videos when scanned through the Flam app. This is powered by proprietary on-demand marker-based AR technology that is extremely complex to build. Leveraging this expertise in AR technology developed in-house, Flam is now building a social media network based on a next-gen AR engine. This will not only enable global scalability for the social media network for the very first time, but will also allow privacy controls to users, on the go.

Rajat Gupta, Co-Founder and CTO, Flam said, “As a deep-tech consumer startup with expertise in augmented reality, our vision is to transform and revolutionize social media interactions. Through FlamCards and our social media network, we are bringing bleeding-edge tech and next-gen product experiences that will enable users to express themselves in the most mesmerizing ways. We are actively hiring our tech leadership to build the first global consumer story out of India”.

Manu Rekhi, MD, Inventus Capital Partners SV and Board Member, Flam, said, “With more than 40 million FlamCard scans in three months, Flam is one of the world’s top five consumer AR apps. We trust that our investment will accelerate the company’s growth trajectory. We are excited to partner with a young team that is building a global consumer tech company from India, executing our shared vision of transforming the social networking landscape by leveraging AR”.

Commenting on the investment, Raju Reddy, Founding Partner, Silicon Valley Quad and Board Member, Flam, said, “We enjoy working with young entrepreneurs and mentoring them to build great global companies. Silicon Valley Quad is impressed by the idea of Flam building a social media network for a global audience and believes in the high-quality leadership at Flam. We are thrilled to be early partners with the founders”.

Founded in May 2021 by three BITS Pilani graduates, Shourya Agarwal, Malhar Patil, and Rajat Gupta, Flam is the world’s first Augmented Reality (AR) based social media networking platform built for a global audience. FlamCards makes Flam the first company in the world to make it possible to print user-generated videos. Some of the live and upcoming features on the Flam app include Flam Rewards (gamifying AR camera scans), FlamStories (change video on FlamCards), FlamGhost (a hidden photo/video on a blank FlamCard only visible to the recipient), Flam 3D filters and privacy controls (control who can see your media).

About Flam:

Flam is the first AR-based social media networking start-up in the world, headquartered in Bangalore, India. It was founded in May 2021 by three BITS Pilani graduates, Shourya Agarwal, Rajat Gupta and Malhar Patil. The seed-stage startup is also the first platform in the world to make it possible to print user-generated videos, powered by its proprietary on-demand marker-based AR tech. With a high virality factor and more than 40 million FlamCard scans within three months of its launch, Flam is one of the world’s top five consumer AR apps. The startup has raised USD 3.5 million in funding so far.