Lightspeed Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that engages in consumer, enterprise, technology, and cleantech markets. It focuses on seed, early-stage, later-stage, expansion-stage, start-ups, growth companies, and incubation, and specializes in debt financing for start-ups and growth companies. Lightspeed Venture Partners invests in various sectors that include enterprise, consumer, big data, bitcoin, enterprise technology, cleantech, mobile, internet, financial technology, cloud solutions, e-commerce, storage, media, networking, energy, and software, software-as-a-service, information technology, biotechnology, and social.

Lightspeed Venture Partners

Y Combinator is a startup accelerator that provides funding and mentorship to early-stage companies. It offers a program where startups receive guidance from experienced entrepreneurs and investors. The organization helps founders in their business models and develop their products. Y Combinator serves industries such as technology, healthcare, and finance.

Y Combinator

Benchmark invests in and works alongside entrepreneurs building startups into transformational companies. They focus on early-stage venture investing in mobile, marketplaces, social, and infrastructure and enterprise software. Founded in 1995, the firm has offices in Woodside and San Francisco, California. The firm has been recognized for its commitment to open source and is noted for creating the first equal ownership and compensation structure for its partners. The five equal general partners who take board seats and a hands-on approach to every entrepreneur and company they back, with no junior investment staff. Current general partners are Chetan Puttagunta, Sarah Tavel, Victor Lazarte, Peter Fenton, and Eric Vishria. Benchmark has had 37 exits since beginning of 2011; 14 IPOs and 23 M&As representing a total market value of more than $60 billion. Benchmark’s current portfolio of early-stage venture investments includes private market leaders such as Uber, Snapchat, Tinder, Stitch Fix, Elastic and Cyanogen; recent IPOs and acquisitions such as Twitter, Instagram, Yelp, League of Legends, Jasper, OpenTable, New Relic, Hortonworks, Amplitude, Confluent, GrubHub, Zendesk and Zillow; and franchise companies from Juniper to eBay to Red Hat.

Benchmark

SV Angel is a service organization, investing in founders who share these values. They support entrepreneurs in building lasting companies by assisting at key inflection points and leveraging networks to help them propel their businesses forward.

SV Angel

IVP turns breakout companies into enduring market leaders. With a 40-year record of driving growth and 130+ IPOs, we’ve partnered with over 400 companies including Amplitude, Brex, Coinbase, Crowdstrike, Datadog, Discord, Klarna, Slack, Snap, and Twitter. As trusted allies, IVP helps founders and CEOs meet the challenge of leading a rapidly growing company. Its proven system bolsters functions including those that are sometimes overlooked and partners serve as trusted allies to companies seeking to realize their full potential.

General Catalyst is a venture capital firm that provides early-stage and growth equity investments. The company provides ongoing momentum that accelerates ideas, careers, and companies toward standout success.

General Catalyst

Tencent is an internet service portal offering value-added internet, mobile, telecom, and online advertising services. Its communications and social platforms Weixin and QQ connect users with each other, with digital content and daily life services in just a few clicks.  Tencent has maintained steady growth under its user-oriented operating strategies. It provides value-added internet, mobile, and telecom services, as well as online advertising under the strategic goal of providing users with ''one-stop online lifestyle services.'' Tencent’s Internet platforms in China – QQ (QQ Instant Messenger), WeChat, QQ.com, QQ Games, Qzone, 3g.QQ.com, SoSo, PaiPai, and Tenpay – aim to address the various needs of internet users, including communication, information, entertainment, e-commerce, and others. In September 2013, Tencent's market valuation rose to $101 billion, and as of November 21, 2013, QQ had 2 billion active users and WeChat had 650 million monthly active users. The numbers of active users for QQ mail, Qzone, Tencent Weibo, and QQ news were 274 million, 626 million, 220 million, and 150 million, respectively. Tencent was founded in November of 1998. In April 2000, the IDG and PCCW invested a total of $2.2 million dollars in the company. Tencent was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK) on June 16, 2004. Baidu, Alibaba, and Netease are Tencent's major competitors.

Tencent

Coatue is a privately owned hedge fund sponsor. The firm invests in the public equity markets globally focusing on investments in technology, media, and telecommunications in addition to other sectors. It employs a long or short strategy to make its investments.

Coatue

Kleiner Perkins is a venture capital firm specializing in investing in early-stage, growth, and incubation companies. The firm continues that legacy, investing in founders with bold ideas that span industries and continents, partnering with them from inception to IPO and beyond to maximize the potential of their ideas. They also focus on early computer firms using their devices and programming and service companies. It also invests in the digital, life sciences, and healthcare industries.

Kleiner Perkins

Yahoo is a media technology company that connects people with their passions. They reach people from finance, sports, shopping, gaming, and news with the products, content, and technology. They provide a full-stack platform for businesses to connect across advertising, search, and media.

Yahoo

GIC is a global investment firm established in 1981 to manage Singapore's foreign reserves. A disciplined long-term value investor, GIC is uniquely positioned for investments across a wide range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income, private equity, real estate, and infrastructure. GIC invests through funds and directly in companies, partnering with its fund managers and management teams to help world-class businesses achieve their objectives. In tech investing, GIC seeks to be a lifetime partner to the companies it invests in. GIC has investments in over 40 countries around the world. Headquartered in Singapore, GIC employs over 1,700 people across 10 offices in key financial cities worldwide.

Launched in New York City in 2003, HDS Capital is dedicated to investing, mentoring and providing corporate access and contacts to startups and early stage companies at the intersection of technology, retail and fashion.  We are pleased to assist and mentor the entrepreneurs and companies we invest in. We believe in winning teams, not just ideas, and we invest in people. We provide access to our vast network in the retail, fashion and consumer product space.  Managing partner and co-founder Haim Dabah is an entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in successfully building brands and businesses, with deep relationships in the retail and fashion worlds. The HDS team and its advisors include other entrepreneurs, marketers, and industry insiders…an all around wise and fun bunch of leaders.  We look forward to sharing our joint experience to serve our portfolio companies, and to help you facilitate building a large, successful business.

HDS Capital

Alibaba Group operates as an online marketplace connecting buyers and sellers. It provides various e-commerce activities, including retail and wholesale transactions. It also offers cloud computing and digital media services. Alibaba Group serves industries such as retail, logistics, and technology.

Alibaba Group

Kingdom Holding Company is one of the world’s premier international investment companies with holdings in some of the world’s best known companies and brands including Apple, Time Warner, Samba, Citigroup, Pepsi, Walt Disney and Four Seasons.  KHC is based in Saudi Arabia and headed by HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. The Company’s vision is simple to ‘invest in the best’ through a strategy of:  ■ Focussing on core growth and value added industry sectors ■ Investing in high-performance companies with leading brands ■ Maintaining a longer-term investment approach ■ Extracting value from undervalued or underperforming assets ■ Maximising Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s unique experience, investment expertise and international network of contacts

Kingdom Holding Company

Accomplice is a seed-led venture capital firm that invests in technology startup companies. Its specialties are cybersecurity, eSports, data analytics, SMB class software, emerging hardware platforms, and marketplaces.  Through platforms like AngelList, Boston Syndicates, and Maiden Lane, Accomplice harnesses the community to empower and fund the best founders. It has pioneered a community approach through platforms like Spearhead, BOSS, Rev, and TUGG. A majority of Accomplice’s investments are in Boston, with others throughout the U.S., Canada, and the E.U. Formerly known as Atlas Venture, the firm announced in October 2014 that it was splitting its technology and life sciences franchises. The technology group was renamed Accomplice; the life sciences group retained the name Atlas Venture.  Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Accomplice is one of the most active early-stage firms in New England.

Accomplice

Access Technology Ventures is a $2+ billion venture capital and growth technology investment effort of Access Industries, a privately held, US-based industrial group with global strategic investments of $20+ billion. The firm operates as a subsidiary of Access Industries and prefers to invest in firms operating in the technology sector. Its portfolio includes technology companies such as Alibaba, Amazon, Digital Ocean, Facebook, Opendoor, PinDuoDuo, Snap, Square, and Tencent Music.

Access Technology Ventures

Asia Alpha is a family office investing in top-performing alternative assets including Venture Capital and Private Equity, and co-investing in high growth companies in New York, Silicon Valley, Israel, and Asia.

Asia Alpha

Meritech Capital provides late-stage venture capital to technology companies. It specializes in the fields of finance, venture capital, and late-stage investment management.  It was founded in 1999 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Meritech Capital Partners

Spark Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in exceptional products and the creative individuals behind them. Known for embracing risk and a unique approach, Spark Capital has backed companies like Twitter, Discord, Anthropic, Cruise, Niantic, Oculus, Warby Parker, and Tumblr. Recognizing that there are no set playbooks or formulas for success, the firm supports founders in achieving success on their own terms. Spark Capital invests across all sectors and stages, operating out of San Francisco, Boston, and New York City.

Spark Capital

T. Rowe Price is an investment management firm dedicated to funding technology startups. The firm serves individuals, financial intermediaries, and institutions and offers a full range of investment strategies across a broad spectrum: debt, equities, and private equities.

T. Rowe Price

Fidelity is a privately owned investment management firm that serves a wide range of clients. It offers services including IRAs, rollovers, annuities, discount brokerage, retirement planning, estate planning, wealth management, securities execution and clearance, and life insurance. They serve individual investors, businesses, financial advisors, and institutions. The firm manages equity, fixed-income, and balanced mutual funds and invests in public equity and fixed-income markets. It also conducts in-house research to inform its investment decisions.

Fidelity

Lone Pine Capital is an investment adviser that invests in equities and equity-related securities. It focuses on developing an investment platform that distils global, cross-sector idiosyncratic, and thematic research into concentrated portfolios in public or private markets. Stephen Mandel Jr., the low-key president and founder of Greenwich, Connecticutâ€“based Lone Pine Capital, returns a paltry 166 hits. Buying Google shares, however, has generated huge returns for many hedge fund managers, including Mandel.

Lone Pine Capital

General Atlantic is a private equity firm that provides capital and strategic support for growth companies. General Atlantic combines a collaborative approach, sector-specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon, and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to build market businesses.

General Atlantic

Dragoneer is an investment firm that focuses on disruptive businesses and experiences at the intersection of public and private markets. The firm seeks to invest in seed, early-stage, growth, and later-stage businesses. The firm was founded in 2012 by Marc Stad and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States.

Dragoneer Investment Group

SuRo Capital (Nasdaq: SSSS, formerly known as GSV Capital) is a publicly-traded fund that seeks to invest in high-growth, venture-backed private companies. The firm primarily seeks to invest in social mobile, sustainability, cloud computing, big data, marketplaces, and education sectors. It also seeks to create a portfolio of high-growth emerging private companies through a repeatable and disciplined investment approach, as well as to provide investors with access to such companies through its publicly traded common stock. SuRo Capital was established in 2011 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

SuRo Capital

Titanium Ventures identifies and scales the most promising companies across a variety of AI, digital and software sectors by complementing its strong, experienced team with proprietary Data Science insights and its Revenue Acceleration platform.

Titanium Ventures

JGD Management Corp. doing business as York Capital Management is an employee owned hedge fund sponsor. The firm primarily provides its services to pooled investment vehicles. It also caters to high net worth individuals, pension and profit sharing plans, state or municipal government entities, charitable organizations, endowments, foundations, funds of funds, and institutions. The firm manages hedge funds for its clients. It invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe. The firm primarily invests in companies undergoing mergers and acquisitions, distressed and restructuring companies; special situation equity including spin-offs and split-ups; bonds; warrants; and options. It employs a fundamental analysis with an event driven strategy and a bottom-up stock picking approach to make its investments. JGD Management was founded in 1991 and is based New York City with additional offices in Washington, DC; Singapore, Singapore; Moscow, Russia; London, United Kingdom; and Central, Hong Kong.

York Capital Management

Innova Capital is a Brazilian growth equity fund focused in high growth technology companies

Innova Capital

Glade Brook Capital Partners focuses on companies in the technology, media, telecom, and consumer sectors.  Glade Brook specializes in technology growth equity, the Firms' experience investing across private and public markets, and a network of company management teams, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders foster unique deal flow.  It was founded in 2011 by Paul Hudso.

Glade Brook Capital Partners

Geodesic Capital is a venture capital firm that provides mid and later-stage investments to firms in the consumer technology industry. They assist entrepreneurs who are expanding into Asia, beginning with Japan. They provide unrivalled access to senior-level executives, partners, and government officials that portfolio firms require to prosper abroad.

Geodesic Capital

M13 provides strategic counsel and operational expertise to help founders grow their companies. Through Fund II, M13 will expand its focus to emerging technologies driving change in consumer behavior over the next decade.   Founded in 2016 with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.

Founded in 2011, G Squared is aligned with a fundamental shift: venture-backed companies stay private longer. As a result, private companies need both primary capital to continue their growth trajectory and transitional capital to provide liquidity to early investors, current and former employees, and other sellers. Positioned at the crux of this liquidity access challenge, G Squared partners with portfolio companies throughout their lifecycle using a fundamentally different approach than traditional VCs. The company invests in companies that challenge the status quo and demonstrate a clear path to superior returns, partnering with world-class entrepreneurs tackling big problems. G Squared funds have invested in household names such as 23andMe, Coursera, Instacart, Lyft, Pinterest, and Spotify, as well as in the next generation of disruptors, including Asana, Blend, Bolt, Brex, Capsule, Flexport, Impossible Foods, Toast, and Turo.

G Squared

Graphene Ventures is a venture capital firm that focuses on early and growth stage tech companies in enterprise software,consumer technology, health tech, fintech and blockchain technologies

Graphene Ventures

Snap

The intersection of beauty and technology to deliver hyper-personalized products.

Beauty Tech

Taiwan-based Perfect Corp provides subscription-based, business-to-business (B2B) technology solutions for the beauty industry using AI, machine learning, augmented reality (AR), and facial recognition technologies. The company’s “YouCam” solution involves skin analysis, virtual try-ons, and shade-finder functions available online as well as in-store. Perfect Corp has also introduced several supplementary products to YouCam, such as “YouCam Video” (January 2021) built on its patented AR-based “AgileFace” tracking technology that allows users to edit videos by (virtually) applying makeup and “YouCam Tutorial” (September 2021), a software-as-a-service (SaaS) tool that assists beauty brands and makeup artists carry out virtual makeup tutorials for customers.&nbsp;As of March 2022, Perfect Corp had 44 granted patents for its proprietary AR and AI technologies. The company’s AR technology uses real-time high-definition facial 3D live mesh with 3,900 meshes and over 200 facial landmark tracking points.&nbsp;The company’s product portfolio also includes&nbsp;<ul><li>contactless virtual try-on features for face and nails</li><li>&nbsp;an&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11774?industryIds=39">AI Personality Finder</a>, which provides product recommendations based on personality traits of customers</li><li>and&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/33494">Skincare Pro Aesthetic Simulator</a> to simulate and visualize non-surgical facial procedures</li><li>an AI-powered&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/30072">hair type analysis tool</a>, a virtual hair color simulator, and a GenAI-powered hairstyling tool</li></ul>In November 2023, the company announced the launch of its&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24522">AI technologies,</a> including Beauty AI, Skin AI, Fashion AI solutions, and GenAI Innovations, aiming to improve accuracy for textures and effects and real-time skin analysis with personalized product recommendations.&nbsp;Key customers and partnershipsAs of February 2024, Perfect Corp had&nbsp;<a href="https://www.perfectcorp.com/business/news/gen-ai-global-trend-report">over 600</a> brand partners with over one billion downloads of its app globally. The company’s YouCam technology is used by major beauty brands such as L’Oreal, Lancome, Decorté,<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7890?industryIds=39"> MAC Cosmetics</a>, and Neutrogena as well as natural beauty brands such as 100% Pure Cosmetics and&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10944?industryIds=39">Bakel.</a> As of February 2024, Perfect Corp had virtual try-on partnerships with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.perfectcorp.com/business/blog/success-story/an-inside-look-at-digital-innovation-at-the-estee-lauder-companies">Estée Lauder</a>, with over 8,000 YouCam-powered devices in stores across 45 global markets (May 2022), and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.beautypackaging.com/contents/view_breaking-news/2021-08-16/fenty-beauty-introduces-virtual-try-on-capability/">Fenty Beauty</a> (August 2021). The company also has a partnership with Starboard Group, a vacation retail curator, offer an AI-powered skincare product recommendation tool across Starboard's global fleet (<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/34341">October 2024</a>).The company also had a multi-channel agreement with the American multinational beauty company COTY (September 2021) to provide virtual try-ons, online skin diagnostics, and data-driven personalization for Coty’s portfolio of brands including CoverGirl, Sally Hansen, and Philosophy.&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/36663">In November 2024,</a> Perfect Corp partnered with French skincare brand Holidermie to integrate AI-powered skin analysis technology in Parisian retail stores.

Technologies bringing about a new reality

Extended Reality

<div>
 
 Taiwan-based Perfect Corp provides business-to-business (B2B) technology solutions for the beauty industry using AI, ML, AR, and facial recognition technologies.&nbsp;
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s &ldquo;YouCam&rdquo; solution involves skin analysis, virtual try-ons, and shade-finder functions that are available online as well as in store. Perfect Corp has also introduced several supplementary products to YouCam, such as &ldquo;YouCam Video&rdquo; (introduced in January 2021) built on its patented AR-based &ldquo;AgileFace&rdquo; tracking technology that allows users to edit videos by (virtually) applying makeup, and &ldquo;YouCam Tutorial&rdquo; (introduced in September 2021), a software-as-a-service (SaaS) tool that assists beauty brands and makeup artists carry out virtual makeup tutorials for customers.&nbsp;&nbsp;
 
 
 In July 2023, the company expanded its suite of AR-powered jewelry solutions, allowing brands to create realistic earrings for virtual try-on without the use of expensive 3D modeling techniques. Previously, in May 2023, Perfect Corp improved its hand sizing tech for fingers and wrists, helping to match consumers with their correct size for rings, bracelets, and watches. The company also launched a 3D Viewer and 3D authoring tool for AR rings and watches in March 2023, allowing jewelry and watch brands to import 3D model CAD files, preview 3D renders and streamline the creation of AR content.
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s product portfolio also includes a contactless virtual try-on feature for face and nails, which was introduced in response to increasing demand for such solutions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This solution uses voice recognition and gesture control to allow the customer to navigate using voice commands.&nbsp;
 
 
 Perfect Corp generates revenue via monthly subscriptions, offering two plans, Essential (USD 399) and Premium (USD 799), as well as custom pricing for larger enterprises.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 As of July 2023, 400 enterprises used the company&rsquo;s solutions including major beauty brands such as L&rsquo;Oreal, Lancome, Decort&eacute;, and MAC Cosmetics.
 
 
 
 In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20171">
 July 2023
 </a>
 , the company partnered with global travel retailer Dufry to provide in-store and web makeup virtual try-on for products from 15 brands. Previous partnerships include that with Warner Bros. for a collection of AR movie effects for The Flash in June 2023.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In March 2022, the company announced that it entered a definitive agreement to merge with Provident Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), in a transaction that set Perfect Corp.&rsquo;s enterprise value at ~USD 1 billion. Upon the completion of the transaction in Q3 2022, receiving USD 335 million in gross proceeds, the combined company was to be renamed Perfect Corp. and listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker &ldquo;PERF.&rdquo;
 
 
 Competitors:
 None. (Perfect Corp is the only startup under our coverage that focuses on providing AR solutions for the personalized beauty industry.)
 
</div>

Bump is an AI-powered analytics-driven platform that helps creators receive and manage microadvances for their businesses. It also helps in tracking and collecting lost revenue, determining qualification for micro-financing, and booking personalized live sessions directly with entertainment industry executives to let creators eliminate traditional barriers faced while receiving requisite resources.

Newond's goal is to make administrative work easier after layoffs.Newond will use the cash earned through this third-party allotment to grow customers in the United States, where layoff volumes in the IT industry are particularly high.

Perfect Corp. (NYSE: PERF) is the leading SaaS AI and AR beauty and fashion tech solutions provider, dedicated to transforming shopping experiences through empowering brands to embrace the digital-first world. By partnering with the largest names in the industry, Perfect Corp.’s suite of enterprise solutions deliver synergistic, technology-driven experiences that facilitate sustainable, ultra-personalized, and engaging shopping journeys, as well as equipping brands with next generation of consumer goods. Perfect Corp. offers a complementary suite of mobile apps, including YouCam Makeup and YouCam Perfect, to provide a consumer platform to virtually try-on new products, perform skin diagnoses, edit photos, and share experiences with the YouCam Community. To learn more, please visit PerfectCorp.com.

Aleph is the digital media partner trusted to connect the biggest players in digital media with the advertisers that rely on them.

ShareChat is an Indian social media startup. It offers the content consumption and sharing platform only in Indian vernacular languages to cater to over 1.17 billion wireless network users of India. It is available in 15 Indian languages. The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka.

The Autio app is your audio road trip companion with 10,000+ location-based audio stories across the US. It’s like having a personal tour guide on demand. Enjoy narration from celebrities like Kevin Costner, John Lithgow, and Phil Jackson, alongside passionate locals and cultural experts. It’s great for inspiring detours, sparking interesting conversations, and discovering hidden knowledge along your journey.

Elly is the world's first empathetic audio companion for patients living with chronic disease.

Waffle Journal is a journal app designed to help families and friends stay connected via group journaling. Waffle Journal allows families to share their thoughts and milestones in writing with each other.

Stipop offers messaging, video, and profile stickers for apps intended to enrich online communication. It helps product brands advertise their products with branded stickers on chat, stories, and comments.

Dot.LA is a digital newsroom covering L.A.'s startup and tech community. Dot.LA’s mission is to celebrate and empower the Los Angeles startup and tech community, fueling innovation around the world.

Stacks is a social video studio building the future of entertainment.

Loco Adventures is an outdoor adventure platform building a community of AR game creation pioneers ready for the next evolution in gaming. The platform is turning the real-world into a digital playground. It’s a platform for building and delivering location-based chat stories. They combining the engaging nature of chat fiction with the power of location awareness, real-world gaming, and augmented reality to create new ways of interactive storytelling.  Loco Adventures was founded in 2018 and is based in Berlin, Germany.

Love Stories TV is a video-powered marketplace for wedding planning. We connect couples with the ideas, products, and services they need for their weddings. We connect wedding businesses with a pipeline of customers.

CONBODY is a prison style bootcamp that employs formerly incarcerated individuals as fitness instructors. CONBODY was founded by Coss Marte, a former drug kingpin who created the CONBODY method while serving time in prison. Now, CONBODY uses fitness to raise awareness for criminal justice reform and provide opportunities for this marginalized group. CONBODY has hired over 50 former inmates and has a 0% recidivism rate. CONBODY has been featured in 200+ media outlets and has built a loyal following.  CONBODY’s mission is to bridge a gap between two communities: young professionals and formerly incarcerated individuals, and normalize their re-entry. CONBODY provides prison style on-demand workouts as well as in-person group fitness classes.

Powered by proprietary animation tech, we make daily interactive pop culture content at unprecedented speed + cost and partner with creators to bring virtual influencers to life.

We create content for film, television and digital that explores technology's impact on culture and how that relationship will shape our future.

Hashtag Our Stories is a social-first, video publisher, focused on stories about local solutions to global problems. Traditional news media lacks diversity, has a bias for negativity and is missing the big trends. The company saw a different way of telling stories through empowering mobile storytelling in every language.

Snap is a privately-owned global camera company focusing on multinational technology and social media. The company's flagship product is Snapchat, a multimedia messaging app known for its ephemeral nature, disappearing messages, and creative features such as filters, lenses, and Stories. Snapchat initially gained popularity among younger demographics for its unique approach to communication, allowing users to send photos and videos that disappear after being viewed. Over time, the platform has evolved to include various features, including augmented reality (AR) experiences, gaming, original content through Discover, and professional-grade editing tools. In addition to Snapchat, Snap Inc. has expanded its offerings to include hardware products such as Spectacles, and sunglasses equipped with a built-in camera for capturing first-person perspective content. The company has also invested in various other technologies, including AR, camera technology, and digital content creation.

<div> Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) is an American camera and social media company based in Santa Monica, California. Snap Inc. was founded in 2011 by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy as Snapchat Inc. The company's flagship product is Snapchat, a mobile app that allows users to send ephemeral photos, videos and messages. In 2016, the company rebranded as Snap Inc. and launched its first hardware product, Spectacles camera glasses. Snap's products include the Snapchat mobile app, Spectacles camera glasses, and Bitmoji avatar app. The company's mission is to &quot;reinvent the camera&quot; to improve how people live and communicate. Snapchat features include photo/video messaging, Stories, Discover content from media brands, augmented reality lenses and filters. As of Q4 2023, Snapchat had 406 million daily active users globally. Snap has experienced rapid growth since its founding but faces ongoing challenges in user growth and monetization. The company generates revenue primarily through advertising on Snapchat. In 2022, Snap reported USD 4.6 billion in revenue. The company faces competition from larger rivals like Meta, TikTok and Google in the social media and digital advertising markets. </div>

Snap debuts new, unified monetization program for creators

Giving creators the power of content monetization and audience engagement.

Creator Economy

Platforms that allow creators to share several types of content. Some platforms also offer fan engagement/ interactions with the creative artist via videos/ live streams.

Platforms that offer exclusive content to signed up members.

Platforms that allow creators to share their written works and blogs.

Platforms that provide tools to discover relevant analytics, produce content, engage with the audience, and help with the overall process.

Platforms that allow creators to share one of either videography, live streams, photos, music or audio podcasts with fan engagement capabilities.

Blockchain-based Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) allow creators to transfer ownership of their content via platforms that share proceeds with buyers, sellers, creators, and platforms via smart contracts.

Using AI to automate, enhance and optimize marketing activities

Marketing Automation

Firms positioned as an 'all-in-one' marketing platform,  providing a variety of functions across the MarTech stack

Startups providing platforms for planning and managing marketing campaigns.

Startups offering tools for finding and attracting potential customers with targeted ads.

Startups providing tools to automate the execution of marketing campaigns across varied channels.

Startups providing tools for gathering, cleaning, and enhancing customer data to provide deep analytics. This also includes firms offering account-based marketing (ABM) solutions to drive targeted and personalized campaigns.

Companies that use GenAI as a core part of their product offering for marketing

Companies developing XR headsets and relevant sub-components (displays, sensors, and processors). Also includes complementary XR hardware (tracking devices, haptic vests, and gloves)

Companies offering engines that enable the development of AR/VR content, also includes companies offering capabilities to capture and create 3D images for immersive environments

Companies offering AR/VR solutions or toolkits for specific industry applications, including VR game developers

Companies offering location-based AR/VR experiences

Harnessing the power of social influence to fuel online sales

Social Commerce

Platforms for creating, scheduling, and managing a brand or independent seller’s social media presence. A number of these platforms also provide AI-powered social listening and data analytics tools to gauge customer sentiment.

AI-powered tools for automatically monitoring and responding to customer queries across multiple social media channels.

Platforms for identifying and managing influencers to promote and sell products and services through social media.

Tools typically used by influencers to demonstrate and sell products and services via social media. The solutions are the digital equivalents of live teleshopping programs.

Platforms for curating and displaying customer reviews, recommendations, and product and service feedback on a brand or independent sellers' social media pages and websites.

Tools to create and implement instant shopping features to an image or video advertisement

Metaverse Platforms

Platforms that offer collaborative 2D and 3D environments for enterprise and education-related use cases

Platforms that facilitate entertainment-focused virtual events and concerts

Platforms that focus on multiplayer gaming experiences in virtual worlds

Platforms that focus on social interaction, experience creation, and virtual land purchases

Platforms that enable the creation of avatars that are used as digital identities in metaverse platforms

Platforms that offer virtual worlds for multiplayer social gaming experiences enable users to create experiences and conduct transactions (e.g. buying virtual land)

Bridging the gap between the human brain and computer

Brain-computer Interfaces

Non-invasive hardware typically involving wearable devices that can record, monitor and interact with brain activity using methods like electroencephalography (EEG), enabling the control of prosthetic limbs, operating computers, and more

Physical devices implanted in the body, often in the brain, to interface with neural signals such as electrodes or neural implants

Companies that offer software platforms for BCI applications, including cloud platforms that enables neural data storage

Companies that gather, store, analyze, and interpret neural data collected via BCIs in order to generate valuable insights for clinical decision making

Incorporating technology into the fast-moving world of fashion

Fashion Tech

Companies that use technology to capture user's sizes to create custom clothing on-demand.

Platforms that help provide style and outfit recommendations to customers based on their preferences. These are typically provided via apps and are used for recommendation purposes only.

Online platforms that help retailers and manufacturers enable their customers to virtually try on apparel.

Platforms and systems that track trends and data for both fashion brands and retailers to optimize operations.

Platforms that help apparel manufacturers disrupt traditional manufacturing and inventory practices through innovation through processes such as 3D printing.

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

INCUMBENTS_PRESENT

<div>
 Snap has introduced its latest Spectacles AR glasses in Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, and Spain. These fifth-generation glasses are equipped with four tracking cameras, a proprietary optical system that uses LCoS micro-projectors, two Snapdragon processors, and a battery that lasts 45 minutes. Unique to these glasses is a 46-degree field of view and a resolution that compares to viewing a 100-inch display from three meters away. 
 Unlike other AR glasses, this does not require a smartphone to function. It operates using Snap OS which is conducive to hand gestures and voice controls. When used, menus will be visible in the user's hand itself. 
 The Spectacles Developer Program is offered at a monthly subscription of EUR 110 (USD 119) for at least a year. This includes the AR glasses and accessibility to the Spectacles Team. Reportedly, shipping is anticipated to commence in the next few weeks, expanding into other markets by 2025.
</div> Analyst QuickTake: 
 Snap has partnered with companies such as <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/33644"> OpenAI </a> and Lego to develop the first applications for the Spectacles, which include using AI models for object recognition. Expanding its developer program is expected to lead to further collaborations to develop applications for its latest AR glasses.

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