Hoverlay
Hoverlay is a no-code spatial AR publishing platform that enables individuals, artists, educators, cultural institutions, and city governments to create and share location-based augmented reality content via QR codes and links, monetized through tiered subscriptions.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersActon, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Hoverlay does
Hoverlay is a spatial augmented reality (AR) publishing platform that enables individuals, artists, educators, brands, and institutions to create, test, and publish immersive AR content at real-world physical locations without writing code. The core product combines a web-based visual composer (Hoverlay Spaces) with iOS and Android viewer apps; creators upload photos, videos, audio, 3D models, 360 media, and photogrammetric scans, arrange them spatially around viewers, and activate them either through geo-boundaries at specific locations or universally via unique QR codes and channel links that eliminate the app-download friction typical of AR deployments. Underlying technical capabilities include SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), occlusion, and environment matching, with the platform labeled "Patent Pending" by the company.
Hoverlay monetizes through a tiered subscription model: a free Personal tier for non-commercial individual use (up to 5 spaces, 250 MB storage); a Local tier priced at $275/month on annual commitment ($412/month month-to-month) for cities, campuses, and organizations; a Global enterprise tier with unlimited spaces and API access at custom pricing; and Educational Packages starting at $250/month for schools, colleges, and universities with 'train the trainer' support. Go-to-market blends product-led growth (self-serve signup, no credit card required) with partnership-led enterprise sales targeting city development authorities (West Palm Beach DDA, Downtown Center BID LA, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs), universities (Northeastern, MIT, Berklee, Concord Academy, SMASH Academy), and cultural institutions (Scottsdale Public Art, Jackson Hole Public Art, Rose Kennedy Greenway, Friends of the Public Garden, MOCA London).
Customer segments span History and Heritage, Art and Creative Expression, Events and Live Experiences, Education, Cities and Government, Art Galleries, and Brands and Creators, with documented use cases including the Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial on Boston Common, Grand Ave Augmented in Downtown Los Angeles (45+ activations, 6,000 views, 100,000+ social impressions in first two months), Boston Fashion Week (62 AR designs), and the upcoming 8-mile America 250 AR trail in Washington DC. The company is privately held, bootstrapped, headquartered in Massachusetts, and operates globally across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific with a 1–10 person team led by CEO and Co-founder Nicolas Robbe.
Hoverlay firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Hoverlay
- Legal name
- Hoverlay
- Website
- https://hoverlay.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Hoverlay is a no-code spatial AR publishing platform that enables individuals, artists, educators, cultural institutions, and city governments to create and share location-based augmented reality content via QR codes and links, monetized through tiered subscriptions.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Hoverlay industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Augmented Reality Authoring Platform
- NAICS
- Postproduction Services and Other Motion Picture and Video Industries (51219)
- SIC
- Services-Allied To Motion Picture Production (7819)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Immersive/Interactive Animation (AR/VR/Real-Time) (MPAHACAN)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- AR/VR & Spatial Computing (SLAM, 3D vision) (HDAAAEAJ)
Keywords
Where Hoverlay is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Acton
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Hoverlay business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Subscription Plans (Personal, Local, Global): Hoverlay generates revenue through tiered monthly and annual subscription plans. The free Personal tier targets individuals for non-commercial use. The Local tier at $275/month (or $412/month month-to-month) targets organizations such as cities and campuses. The Global enterprise tier provides unlimited spaces and API access at a custom price. Educational institution packages are also available starting at $250/month. Annual commitment discounts are offered.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier for individuals; up to 5 Spaces, 250 MB content storage, publishing tools. Non-commercial use only. |
| Subscription | Annual | Local organizations (cities, campuses); up to 30 spaces, 1+ GB storage, collaboration tools |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Global enterprises; unlimited spaces, API access, full collaboration features |
| Subscription | Monthly | Educational packages for schools, colleges, and universities |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels9 records
Hoverlay product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Hoverlay provides a no-code spatial AR publishing platform that lets individuals, artists, educators, brands, and organizations compose, test, and publish augmented reality content — photos, videos, 3D models, audio, animations, and 360 media — at real-world physical locations. Content is activated either through geo-boundaries tied to the location or via unique QR codes and channel links that route viewers straight to the experience on iOS, Android, or mobile camera browser without requiring an app download, with built-in SLAM, occlusion, and environment matching for realistic rendering.
Product overview
Hoverlay is a spatial AR publishing platform that provides a suite of technologies for creating and distributing augmented reality content into physical locations. The offering consists of two integrated components: the Hoverlay Spaces web platform for content creation and publishing, and the Hoverlay Mobile App for viewing AR experiences on iOS and Android devices. Users compose AR experiences on the web using a visual composer that supports photos, videos, audio, 3D models, animations, and 360 content. Content is then activated in the real world either through QR codes or geolocation. The platform offers four pricing tiers: Personal (free), Local ($275/month), and Global (enterprise), plus Educational Packages ($250+/month for institutions).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Hoverlay Platform (Hoverlay Spaces + Hoverlay Mobile App) Integrated spatial AR publishing platform consisting of the Hoverlay Spaces web-based authoring environment and the Hoverlay Mobile App (iOS and Android), enabling no-code composition, testing, and publishing of AR content at real-world locations.
- Hoverlay Spaces (Web-based Creation Platform) Self-serve browser-based authoring platform where individuals, artists, educators, and organizations compose, test, and publish AR Spaces — supporting photos, videos, 3D models, animations, MP3 spatial audio, 360 photos/videos, and Unity assets — with optional geo-boundary or QR-code activation.
- Hoverlay Mobile App (iOS and Android) Native mobile viewer for AR experiences on iOS and Android, supporting ARKit- and ARCore-compatible devices. Users discover channels by proximity or name, scan QR codes, or open channel links from web/email/text to view published AR experiences.
- Personal Plan (Free Tier) Free self-serve subscription plan for individual, non-commercial use, including up to 5 Spaces and 250 MB of content storage with publishing tools — the entry point of Hoverlay's PLG funnel.
- Local Plan Paid subscription plan for local organizations such as cities and campuses, priced at $275/month with annual commitment, including up to 30 spaces, 1+ GB content storage, collaboration features, and Unity Asset Import.
- Global Plan Custom-priced enterprise subscription with unlimited spaces, 1+ GB content storage, collaboration tools, Unity Asset Import, and API access for programmatic integration of Hoverlay spatial publishing capabilities into external systems.
- Educational Packages Subscription package tailored for schools, colleges, and universities starting at $250/month, bundling full Hoverlay platform access with education materials and 'train the trainer' programs.
- Hoverlay Web APIs (Global Tier API Access) Developer API included with the Global enterprise tier, enabling programmatic integration of Hoverlay's spatial publishing capabilities into external systems and workflows.
Quantifiable outcome
- 60% of KAB Gallery's new and returning online clients used Hoverlay to visualize art before purchasing
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Hoverlay
Customer profileNamed customers20 records
Segments7 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Hoverlay technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
AI capability7 records
Feature9 records
Hoverlay partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
26 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.
- West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority (WPB DDA)flagshipPartnership to launch 'DowntownWPB Unlocked' — an interactive AR walking tour covering 30+ locations in downtown West Palm Beach. Described by the DDA as a blueprint for merging placemaking with digital applications at a scale unmatched by other downtowns in Florida.
- 51StepsToFreedom.orgflagship51StepsToFreedom chose Hoverlay to build the largest outdoor museum in the world — an 8-mile AR trail in Washington DC with 300+ stories covering liberty and America's journey toward freedom, launching as part of America 250 (2026).
- Tribeca Festival / 2025 Tribeca FestivalflagshipHoverlay powered 'The Power Loom and The Founders Pillars' site-specific AR experience at the 2025 Tribeca Festival's 'In Search of Us' immersive program, located at the New York Stock Exchange.
- MIT Open Documentary Lab (Layers of Place)flagshipMIT Open Documentary Lab presented 'Layers of Place' — seven location-based AR experiences powered by Hoverlay across MIT's campus, exploring racial justice, historical memory, monuments, environmental stewardship, and technology's impact on civic life.
- Sarasota Art MuseumcoreFeatured Claire Ashley's AR installation in the Plaza as part of 'Claire Ashley: Chromatic Blush' exhibition, with the AR component highlighted during a Curator's Tour led by Senior Curator Rangsook Yoon.
- Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Sportsflagship'Augmented Chicago: Inaugural Realities' in Millennium Park showcased four Chicago-based artists using Hoverlay for the first time in the park, with coverage in the Chicago Tribune as a landmark virtual art exhibition.
- MOCA LondoncoreMOCA London's first AR exhibition 'Encounter' by David Van Eyssen used Hoverlay — visitors entered an 'empty' gallery, scanned a QR code, and used Hoverlay to view the AR artwork.
- MIT ACT / Venice Architecture Biennaleflagship'The Swamp Observatory AR' experience powered by Hoverlay was featured at the Venice Architecture Biennale starting May 20, 2023 — a two-year collaboration with a school on Gotland Island addressing Baltic Sea pollution.
- PERCEIVE European ProjectcoreHoverlay is one of three companies (alongside Anamnesia and Imki) collaborating with 5 research institutes and 8 countries on the European PERCEIVE project exploring AI, virtual experiences, and colored collections at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Munch Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, and Art Institute of Chicago.
- Berklee NYCcoreBerklee NYC and Hoverlay co-produced the first-ever end-to-end augmented live music performance by artist Danielle Parkka at the legendary Power Station. Hoverlay's platform enabled the artist to create and publish AR content synced to MIDI notes throughout the entire performance without coding.
- Friends of the Public GardencoreSponsored the AR experience at the Shaw & 54th Regiment Memorial on Boston Common, one of America's greatest public artworks. The partnership produced a photo-realistic 3D model of the monument, four holographic narratives, and 50+ historical photographs, establishing a new standard for immersive historical storytelling.
- National Park ServicecorePartnered on the Shaw Memorial AR project, providing scripts and historical research that informed the holographic narrative content presented at the monument site.
- City of BostoncoreCollaborated with the City of Boston on the Shaw Memorial AR project, working alongside the National Park Service, Friends of the Public Garden, Museum of African American History, and AR artist John Craig Freeman.
- Museum of African American HistorycorePartnered on the Shaw Memorial AR project on Boston Common, bringing the historical, artistic, social, and political values of the monument to life through AR.
- Boston CyberartscoreCuratorial partner in commissioning The Greenway AR Exhibit — 16 virtual AR installations across a 1.6 square mile park, exploring themes of transportation and the automobile, produced in collaboration with three AR artists and a local historian.
- Rose Kennedy Greenway ConservancycoreHost of The Greenway AR Exhibit — a flagship public AR installation spanning 1.6 square miles of park space, blending real-world with digital art, historical photos, and audio exploring over a century of urban change.
- Downtown Center Business Improvement District (DCBID) — Los AngelesflagshipFlagship partnership producing Grand Ave Augmented — the first large-scale AR walking tour in Downtown Los Angeles, with 45+ activations from 30+ artists across 25 partner organizations including the Music Center, LA Central Library, US Bank Tower, CAL Edison Building, LA Opera, LA Phil, and Colburn School.
- MIT Open Documentary LabcoreOngoing collaboration since at least 2019. Hoverlay CEO Nicolas Robbe invited to present and train MIT storytellers on the Hoverlay platform. MIT presented 'Layers of Place' exhibition with 7 Hoverlay-powered AR experiences exploring racial justice, historical memory, monuments, and environmental stewardship.
- Northeastern University (College of Arts, Media and Design)coreLong-standing partnership spanning 2+ years. Northeastern uses Hoverlay in immersive media, journalism, and storytelling classes, and has deployed AR at commencement ceremonies (2021, 2022) with holographic university leadership messages.
- Jackson Hole Public ArtcoreWildWalls annual public art event in Jackson Hole WY combined physical murals with Hoverlay AR for three consecutive years (2022, 2023, 2024) to promote ecosystem awareness through contemporary scientific research and 'living' educational content.
- Scottsdale Public ArtcoreCanal Convergence annual public art event at the Scottsdale Waterfront featured Hoverlay-powered AR artworks at 20+ locations for four consecutive years (2020–2023), including AR scavenger hunts and interactive 'Welcome to Figment Land' AR mural experiences.
- Boston Fashion WeekcoreBoston Fashion Week used Hoverlay for two consecutive years (2021, 2022) to virtually display fashion designs citywide through outdoor AR activations — 62 AR designs in 2021 alone.
- John Craig Freeman (AR Artist)coreAR artist and Emerson College Professor John Craig Freeman produced the photogrammetry 3D model (800,000+ polygons) of the Shaw Memorial and has collaborated on multiple Hoverlay projects including Greenway AR and MIT Layers of Place.
- Nancy Cahill BakercoreAR artist commissioned for The Greenway AR Exhibit exploring themes of transportation and the automobile superimposed with views of the Rose Kennedy Greenway.
- Will PappenheimercoreAR artist commissioned for The Greenway AR Exhibit as part of the Boston Cyberarts curatorial partnership.
- Organization of Women Architects and Design ProfessionalsminorCEO Nicolas Robbe presented Hoverlay's spatial publishing platform to OWA members in San Francisco as a professional development and outreach activity.
Scale indicators17 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Hoverlay competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- 8th Wall (Niantic): Web-based AR authoring platform that enables creators to build and publish immersive AR experiences through the browser — directly comparable to Hoverlay's no-code spatial publishing model, with a stronger brand parent (Niantic).
- Zappar: WebAR content creation platform used by brands and agencies to build AR campaigns with QR/link distribution — overlapping with Hoverlay's no-code, app-free AR publishing go-to-market and similar target use cases in marketing and packaging.
- Blippar: AR content creation platform with a no-code studio for building WebAR experiences — competes head-on with Hoverlay across brand, education, and cultural activation use cases.
- Plai: AR/AI marketing platform with no-code authoring, QR-based distribution, and brand activation emphasis — closely overlaps Hoverlay's brand activation and event marketing segments.
- ARway: Spatial AR platform for wayfinding and location-based AR experiences with no-code authoring — directly comparable on geo-anchored, location-triggered AR publishing for retail and venue use cases.
- Artivive: AR app specifically designed for artists and galleries to add digital layers to physical artworks — highly comparable to Hoverlay's art and gallery use case (KAB Gallery, Art Lovers Australia).
Broad incumbents
- Adobe Aero: Adobe's no-code AR authoring desktop and mobile tool within the Creative Cloud ecosystem — a broader incumbent with much greater resources, competing for the same creator-friendly AR authoring segment.
- Snap Lens Studio: Snap's AR creation platform powering Lens effects at massive scale — competes with Hoverlay for creator mind-share and distribution, with much larger reach through Snapchat's camera platform.
Emerging players
- Merge EDU: AR education platform with no-code tools and curriculum aligned content — overlaps Hoverlay's educational use case (Northeastern, SMASH Academy, Berklee) and brings integrated hardware/classroom solutions.
- Auki Labs: Spatial computing and AR platform focused on persistent shared AR and digital twins of physical spaces — adjacent competitor in the broader no-code spatial publishing layer that Hoverlay occupies.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Hoverlay social profiles
Digital presenceHoverlay financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Hoverlay leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Hoverlay funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Hoverlay M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Hoverlay
What does Hoverlay do?
Hoverlay provides a no-code spatial AR publishing platform that lets individuals, artists, educators, brands, and organizations compose, test, and publish augmented reality content — photos, videos, 3D models, audio, animations, and 360 media — at real-world physical locations. Content is activated either through geo-boundaries tied to the location or via unique QR codes and channel links that route viewers straight to the experience on iOS, Android, or mobile camera browser without requiring an app download, with built-in SLAM, occlusion, and environment matching for realistic rendering.
Is Hoverlay a public or private company?
Hoverlay is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Hoverlay founded?
Hoverlay was founded in 2017. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Hoverlay based?
Hoverlay is headquartered in Acton, United States, in the North America region.
How does Hoverlay make money?
One revenue line is on record: subscription Plans (Personal, Local, Global).
Who are Hoverlay's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are 8th Wall (Niantic), Zappar, Blippar, Plai, ARway and Artivive. Broad incumbents are Adobe Aero and Snap Lens Studio. Emerging players are Merge EDU and Auki Labs.
Does Hoverlay have an API?
Yes. API Access is available as part of the Global enterprise pricing tier. The Terms of Service also references 'Hoverlay Web APIs' as part of the Services. No additional API documentation, endpoint details, or SDK information is provided on the website.
What industry is Hoverlay in?
Hoverlay's product category is Augmented Reality Authoring Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAHACAN, Immersive/Interactive Animation (AR/VR/Real-Time), with a secondary code of HDAAAEAJ, AR/VR & Spatial Computing (SLAM, 3D vision). Its NAICS code is 51219 and its SIC code is 7819.