Those Snapchat lenses you use to turn yourself into a dog or into a rainbow-puking caricature could soon be a bit more detailed, as the company behind the quick messaging service has reportedly purchased an augmented reality startup based in Israel.
CNBC, citing Israeli publication Calicalist, reports that Snap purchased Cimagine Media for between $30 and $40 million last week.
Cimagine’s augmented reality platform lets consumers visualize products they want to buy. For example, if you wanted to purchase a chair from one of the company’s clients you could use a tablet or smartphone to see what the furniture would look like in their homes.
The acquisition of Cimagine would likely allow Snapchat to create more lifelike lenses and enable the company to continue promotions with Starbucks, content producers, and retailers that superimpose marketed items in photos taken on the service, CNBC reports.
Reps for both Cimagine and Snap did not provide comment to CNBC.
The purchase of Cimagine comes just a month after Snap quietly filed for a $25 billion initial public offering.
The mid-November filing was made with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act. This allows a company with less than $1 billion in revenue to file confidentially to gauge investor interest.
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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