Jaunt

What Jaunt does

Jaunt (legal entity Jaunt, Inc.) was a San Mateo, California-based technology company founded in 2013 that built software and tools for the creation and distribution of volumetric (3D) video for augmented reality. Originally focused on 360-degree VR cameras and immersive VR content (e.g., the Jaunt ONE camera, VR experiences for Diageo and the American Museum of Natural History), the company announced a strategic shift in October 2018, rebranding as Jaunt XR and pivoting away from consumer VR hardware toward machine-learning-driven AR volumetric capture.

Its core product was XR Cast, a portable volumetric capture stage that combined multi-camera depth sensors with proprietary machine-learning pipelines — including multi-task neural networks for skeletal keypoint estimation, body part segmentation, and self-occlusion handling (running at 200+ frames per second on a single off-the-shelf GPU), plus voxelization, meshing, texturing, and compression stages. The pipeline produced real-time 3D human avatars deliverable to mobile web, native iOS and Android apps, and social/AR platforms without requiring a headset. Go-to-market was enterprise B2B via direct field sales and event activations serving entertainment and media brands, telecommunications carriers, and enterprise technology buyers; named customers/partners included AT&T, Snap, NTT DATA, Diageo, and the American Museum of Natural History. Backed by strategic investors including The Walt Disney Company, Evolution Media Partners, CMC, Highland Capital Partners, Redpoint Ventures, SMG, Axel Springer, Madison Square Garden, and Sky, the company raised on the order of $100M in disclosed venture funding (including a $65M Series C in 2015) and operated offices in San Mateo, Chicago, and Los Angeles with a UK subsidiary (Jaunt International, Limited). On September 30, 2019, Verizon Communications acquired Jaunt XR's software, technology, and certain other assets for an undisclosed amount, after which independent operations ceased.

Name

Jaunt

Legal name

Jaunt, Inc.

Website

https://jauntxr.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Jaunt built XR Cast, a portable machine-learning-driven volumetric capture platform that produced real-time 3D human avatars for AR on mobile and social platforms, sold to enterprise entertainment, telecom, and brand customers via custom B2B deals; it was acquired by Verizon in 2019.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Volumetric Video Capture Technology

NAICS

Motion Picture and Video Production (512110), Software Publishers (5132), Other Motion Picture and Video Industries (512199)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812), Services-Allied To Motion Picture Distribution (7829)

akta.pro primary industry

XR/AR/VR/MR Development Frameworks & Toolchains (MPAFAFAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Motion Capture & Performance Capture (Body/Face, Cleanup, Retargeting) (MPADAHAC)

Keywords

• Volumetric video capture
• Augmented reality platform
• XR content creation
• 3D human capture
• AR mobile publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

San Mateo

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Technology Licensing and B2B Services: Licensing XR Cast technology to enterprise customers for branded AR experiences and activations. Revenue generated through service engagements for on-location capture events, technology partnerships, and content creation for brands.
2. Enterprise Platform Access: Providing enterprise clients with access to volumetric capture platform for customer engagement, marketing activations, and experiential campaigns.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Jaunt develops and licenses XR Cast, a portable volumetric capture solution that uses multi-camera depth sensors, machine learning-based human pose estimation, body part segmentation, and non-rigid 3D reconstruction to capture humans in real-time and publish volumetric AR video to mobile devices, AR-enabled apps, and social media without requiring headsets. The company sells technology and on-location capture services to enterprise clients in entertainment, telecommunications, and brand marketing.

Product overview

Jaunt is a technology company that provides XR Cast, a portable volumetric capture solution for capturing and publishing humans in augmented reality. The core product workflow involves voxelization (registering point-cloud outputs from multiple depth sensors), meshing (generating 3D mesh geometry), and texturing (painting meshes with color from high-resolution video cameras). The company was founded in 2013 and pivoted from VR/360° camera technology to machine learning-driven volumetric capture for AR, enabling real-time 3D human holograms viewable on mobile devices. The company operated an internship program and hosted annual hackathons as part of its R&D culture.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• XR Cast: Portable volumetric capture solution for real-time AR content capture and distribution.
• Customer Engagement Platform
• Salesforce Data Enrichment
• Contact Data Management
• Outbound Sales Platform

Products and services

• XR Cast Portable volumetric capture solution that captures humans in real-time 3D and publishes volumetric video content for AR experiences on mobile devices (iOS, Android, mobile web, Snapchat) without requiring a headset. Uses proprietary voxelization, meshing, and texturing technology combined with multi-task neural networks to create full-3D animated models of people. Designed for enterprise brand activations, experiential marketing, and telecom 5G demonstrations.
• Jaunt XR Platform Historical end-to-end system for volumetric video creation and distribution, originally encompassing the Jaunt ONE 360° camera and VR content experiences for clients including Diageo and American Museum of Natural History. The platform was superseded by Jaunt's strategic shift to AR and the XR Cast product.

Quantifiable outcome

• Annotation cost reduced by approximately 5x compared to major annotation outsourcers
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered former, notable and core.

• VerizonformerOthers · 1 September 2019Acquisition of Jaunt XR's software, technology, and certain assets by Verizon Communications for undisclosed amount. Jaunt XR was a leader in immersive industry with focus on scalable creation and distribution of volumetric video.
• NTT DATAnotableStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2019XR Cast activation at NTT DATA's London office opening. Jaunt's portable stage set up on-location for guests to get captured in 3D and view in real-time AR. Partnership enables enterprise clients to communicate with customers in new ways through scalable technology.
• SnapcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2019Partnership with Snap for creation of volumetric Lenses featuring Jaunt's volumetric content in AR. Jaunt's proprietary compression technology enables placing captures into Snap's Lens Studio with special effects. Attendees at Snap Partner Summit received customized Lenses featuring their 3D recording in AR within minutes.
• AT&TcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 20185G Dance Cam hologram activation at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz stadium. XR Cast demonstrated the power of 5G with real-time AR streaming over AT&T's 5G network. Hundreds of users trialed technology with over 60% engaging with their 3D hologram post-event.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Microsoft Mixed Reality Capture Studios: Microsoft's volumetric video capture service produces holograms for HoloLens and mixed reality applications. Direct competitor to Jaunt's XR Cast in the volumetric human capture space, serving enterprise and entertainment customers with similar multi-camera depth sensor pipelines.
• Dimension Studio: UK-based volumetric capture and VFX studio producing photoreal 3D humans for film, gaming, and AR/VR experiences. Comparable to Jaunt in delivering volumetric capture technology and content to entertainment and brand clients.
• Metastage (by Magnopus): Volumetric capture studio focused on lifelike human holograms for XR experiences, leveraging an extensive camera array. Direct peer in the volumetric performance capture market, serving similar enterprise and entertainment customers.
• 8i (now part of Unity): Pioneered consumer-facing volumetric video capture technology for AR/VR applications. Was a direct competitor to Jaunt in the volumetric capture space; technology integrated into Unity following acquisition.

Emerging players

• Mimesys (acquired by Meta): French volumetric telepresence startup acquired by Facebook/Meta that built AR/VR holographic communication. Represents the platform-absorbed trajectory of volumetric capture technology similar to Jaunt's XR Cast.
• Niantic: AR platform company building spatial computing infrastructure and tooling for AR experiences. Adjacent emerging player in AR that overlaps with Jaunt's enterprise AR content capabilities.

Broad incumbents

• Unity Technologies: Real-time 3D development platform with significant XR/AR development tools and capabilities, including acquired volumetric capture technology. A broader incumbent that competes with Jaunt in the XR content creation toolchain category.
• Epic Games (Unreal Engine): Provides Unreal Engine, a leading real-time 3D creation platform with VR/AR support, photoreal human rendering, and MetaHuman technology. A broader incumbent that competes with Jaunt's XR development pipeline for high-fidelity 3D content creation.
• Adobe: Creative software giant that has invested in AR tools (Adobe Aero) and 3D content creation. A broader incumbent in content creation software with overlapping enterprise and creative customer base.
• Snap (Snap Lens Studio): Partner and emerging platform competitor; Snap has integrated AR capture and lens authoring tools directly. Comparable as an AR content distribution ecosystem addressing brand and consumer AR experiences, where Jaunt's volumetric capture plugs in.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/jauntxr
• Facebookfacebook.com/jauntxr
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/jaunt-xr

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors15 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Jaunt