Inflection Point Ventures leads in early-stage round in AR start-up peAR

In-restaurant food ordering startup peAR has raised Rs 2.5 crore in Pre Series A1 led by Inflection Point Ventures. This is IPV’s 20 funding announcement this year. It plans to invest Rs 155 crore across 60 startups in 2021.

Founded by Dharmin Vora, Dhruvesh Mehta, and Parth in 2019, peAR enables customers to see food items in the menu in 3D and select their order and proceed with it in a contactless way. 

The platform would be utilising the funds for building 3D modelling for AR, to enter 4 new cities — Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR and Pune. peAR is also hiring across functions to strengthen the team as they aim to reach 15,000 orders per month by the year end.

“Over the last few years, the F&B industry has turned towards digital initiatives in a limited capacity but no major digital transformation has been made. peAR founders are taking steps towards bringing digitisation to the restaurant business. The way the menu has been digitised for the customers shows peAR's eye for innovation, so as to make the industry completely digital,” said Mitesh Shah, Co-Founder, IPV.

The startup’s proprietary image to 3D model technology has enabled it to make 3D models of the food at scale, thus being able to convert boring paper menus into interactive 3D menus. In the last 2 quarters, peAR has grown 50 times and has scaled its operations from 50 to 250 restaurants. Also, the startup is on track to onboard over 1,000 restaurants by the end of this year. 

The base of any AR company is 3D models and while the AR market is growing at 26.7 per cent across the globe, it will reach $828 billion market capitalisation by 2025. peAR has created processes and technology to make a 3D model in under 40 minutes. This places the startup at a cusp of a unique intersection. 

“Every product, be it food, shoes or jewellery, users see it in 2D. We will be able to convert all products into 3D with a simple video shot on mobile. This will enable all sellers across the globe to showcase their product in 3D and AR,” said Dhruvesh Mehta, Co-founder, peAR.