13th Lab is a technology company.
13th Lab is a technology company.
13th Lab has raised $700K across 1 funding round.
13th Lab has raised $700K in total across 1 funding round.
13th Lab has raised $700K in total across 1 funding round.
13th Lab's investors include Creandum.
13th Lab was a Swedish technology company specializing in computer vision platforms for mobile devices, enabling real-time 3D object detection and reconstruction using smartphone cameras.[1][2][3] Headquartered in Stockholm, it developed products like Ball Invasion—the world's first iOS app using visual SLAM—and the PointCloud SDK, serving app developers and web platforms to create immersive AR/VR experiences by solving the challenge of accurate, efficient 3D mapping from mobile sensors.[1][3] The company demonstrated strong early growth, launching pioneering apps and attracting investments from Creandum, GP Bullhound, and angel investor Gustav Söderström, before its acquisition by Facebook's Oculus division in December 2014 for approximately SEK 195M ($25M).[1][2][3]
Founded between 2009 and 2012 in Stockholm, Sweden, 13th Lab was led by CEO and founder Oskar Linde, who envisioned the smartphone camera as the primary sensor for understanding and interacting with the physical world.[1][2][3] The idea emerged from advancing computer vision to enable apps and web pages on devices like iPhones to detect and recognize 2D/3D objects in real-time, powering innovations such as the groundbreaking Ball Invasion app.[1] Early traction came through product launches and investor backing from firms like GP Bullhound, culminating in a pivotal 2014 acquisition by Oculus (alongside US-based Nimble VR), where the team relocated to Silicon Valley to integrate their tech into VR platforms.[1][3]
13th Lab rode the early wave of mobile AR/VR trends, capitalizing on smartphone cameras as ubiquitous sensors just as Oculus pioneered consumer VR in 2014.[1][3] Its timing aligned with exploding interest in spatial computing—prefiguring Pokémon GO and modern ARKit/ARCore—by solving real-time 3D mapping challenges that unlocked virtual interactions with the physical world.[2][6] Market forces like advancing mobile hardware (e.g., better cameras, GPUs) favored its tech, influencing the ecosystem through Oculus integration, which accelerated Facebook's VR push and contributed to today's mixed-reality platforms.[1][3]
Post-acquisition, 13th Lab's technology fueled Oculus's evolution into Meta's Reality Labs, embedding mobile-grade 3D reconstruction into Quest headsets and AR glasses.[1][3] Looking ahead, its legacy shapes AI-driven spatial computing trends like Apple's Vision Pro ecosystem and generative AR, with real-time vision powering agentic AI and enterprise metaverses. As edge AI proliferates on mobiles, expect its foundational innovations to influence autonomous systems and immersive web experiences, amplifying Meta's dominance while inspiring next-gen startups in vision-first computing—echoing its original hook as the camera's untapped potential.
13th Lab has raised $700K across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $700K Seed in June 2012.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 1, 2012 | $700K Seed | Creandum |