Out of stealth with a promising start for avatar generation software

Founded in 2021, Copresence has built a platform to create a photorealistic 3D model or "digital twin" of a user's face using AI-powered scanning technology that is compatible with any smartphone. The digital twin can be used on any platform, including PC, smartphone, or VR headsets. With copresence, users can do away with cartoonish avatars and replace them with a photorealistic digital version of themselves, thanks to the platform's high levels of photorealism and convincing real-time responsiveness.

The embedded, powerful AI-driven tracking technology translates real facial expressions and non-verbal cues from users to their avatars in real-time, enabling a more immersive video conferencing experience. By placing video call attendees in the same virtual space, copresence's software allows users to direct their gaze towards other meeting participants and see who is looking back at them thanks to the platform's smart eye-contact cues. For gaming, the platform will allow developers to build experiences where users can play as virtual versions of themselves on any game engine, including Unity and Unreal Engine.

"Unlike existing 3D character generation solutions, copresence's technology can create photorealistic avatars of the best quality. What's more, this is all done in less than three minutes," said Radek Mackowiak, copresence CEO. "Thanks to our proprietary tracking technology, users can precisely control the facial expressions of their digital twins, making for the most true-to-life avatar experience available, whether across gaming, VR/AR or for video conferencing."

The closed beta of copresence's platform marks the company's first official announcement. having been under private development since March 2022, the startup is now publicly launching. In the year since its inception, copresence has assembled a team of industry-leading machine learning and computer vision experts to conduct incredible amounts of fundamental research to design the proprietary technology.

Beta phase to kick off in Q3 2023
After several iterations and prototypes, the resulting product has already garnered the attention of Fortune 500 companies and several AAA gaming studios. Copresence is now entering a closed beta phase to gather feedback ahead of the public beta in Q3 2023 and the full release of its platform. The complete platform will include an API release and a smartphone app.

To date, Copresence has raised $2.75 million in seed funding. The startup employs 11 people based in Zurich, Heidelberg, Berlin, Humberg and New Jersey (USA).

(Press release/RAN)