Blippar raises $54 mn from Malaysian government fund

Augmented reality firm Blippar today said it has closed a USD 54 million (about Rs 364.7 crore) funding, led by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the strategic investment fund of Malaysian government.
The Series D investment, which also included follow-on investment from Blippar's existing investors, will support expansion of the company's engineering capabilities and presence in San Francisco.
"2016 is poised to be the biggest year in Blippar's history... This latest funding round will allow us to continue to capture top engineering talent, further grow our leading global install base and create one-of-a-kind campaigns for our brand partners," Blippar co-founder and CEO Ambarish Mitra said.

Blippar has about 60 engineers in its San Francisco and Mountain View offices and a total over 300 employees across 14 global offices.
In addition, the financing will enable Blippar to invest in its user acquisition to drive a habitual behavior, it said.
The company has a global userbase of over 65 million users and partnerships with brands like Nestle, Conde Nast, TIME Inc., Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Heinz, Universal Pictures, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Disney and Jaguar.
"The company will additionally use the funding to continue growing its presence within the education sector and build on early use-cases to become the default platform for educators seeking to empower classrooms with interactive visual learning experiences," it said.

Blippar had raised USD 45 million in funding last year.