Snapchat appears to have acquired a new company on the down-low. Seene (known as Obvious Engineering) lets you capture 3D models and images from the camera in your phone.
Whilst Snapchat has not commented on the acquisition of the company, which could potentially lead to new styles of lense, 3D selfies, and possibly even a gateway to virtual reality adjustments, TechCrunch has speculated that the purchase took place around 3 months ago on a low-price, cash and share deal.
Both companies, however, have remained silent on the matter for the past twelve weeks.
The acquisition, it seems, may have been the only way for Seene forge a future with the big app players. Its novelty is an impressive technical feat, but enveloping the service into Snapchat’s platform could hugely increase the draw, giving it an enormous platform for sharing, and making it a great way to market its features to the consumer.
Snapchat’s draw is based on novelty. It’s what keeps its users coming back to the app on a daily basis. The opportunity to offer a new type of snap could keep its users’ interests piqued – as well as yet again provoking virality, much like it did after the first introduction of the lense (back when everyone was vomiting rainbows).
It could spell great news for both Snapchat and Seene – but it has not yet been confirmed that Seene will continue to be maintained.
More about Seene
Currently Seene’s team is based in both London and the US, though according to TechCrunch, they will be relocating to Los Angeles to join Snapchat’s head office – with some of the staff leaving as a result.
The technology offers many different possible uses – and its CTO and co-founder, Sam Hare, has mentioned that the company has “a great deal more R&D in the pipeline which will be released soon”. All relying on the main piece of tech – the scanning and reconstructing of 3D geometry on your phone – Seene could inject 3D objects around real life things. It’s pretty cool.