Background: Deal Terms TBD, $1M-$1.5M Total Round
Pre-Parade (if things go wildly right what can this become): The UGC network for the next evolution of compute, augmented & mixed reality. As companies like Apple, Meta, Snap, Bytedance, Niantic, etc. build new consumer experiences for AR/MR, Flower Computer becomes the system of record for the real world where the world itself has compute/media/files attached to it vs. just being in the foreground for overlays on top of it. Niantic as a games platform alone at its peak was generating $1B in annual revenue.
Why Pick This Team: Ed (CEO) has a deeply held mission around the company — he has been going down this idea maze for years as he first dreamt of “making flowers computers” 6 years ago and initially attempted to build this company with the advent of QR codes attached to objects in the world. Now that the technology is finally here to make his vision possible (via the help of multimodal models on mobile phones), Ed will do whatever it takes to see his vision come to life (based on conversations and references).
Ed has a gravitational pull around him — based on references with high quality designers from the likes of Cash App and Replit, he fits the bill of your favorite designer’s favorite designer. Sam, the CTO, is well respected in crypto circles given his work at Gnosis Guild resulting in over $2B of total value protected. Given the depth of infrastructure required to make Flower Computer Co successful (i.e., protocols to attach media, files, software to objects and to communicate), Sam will be critical. Sam is also a successful artist, which gives me confidence in his motivation to work on a consumer company.
The team also seems to balance pragmatism and vision — they recognize that there is a sequencing that needs to happen from first creating a white hot center of demand/usage to building an attention map of the world to opening up the platform to other developers who want to build on top of this attention map and world of compute.
Thesis: UGC for the Spatial Computing Era
We are on the cusp of a new era in human-computer interaction, defined by augmented, mixed, and spatial realities. This transformation is driven by significant advancements in hardware, like Apple’s A18 chips and Meta’s wrist-based controls, alongside strides in software, such as multimodal transformer models. Major players are making sizable investments: Meta has allocated over $36 billion to Reality Labs since 2020, Apple spends upwards of $1 billion annually on AR/VR innovation, and Snap continues its Spectacles initiative. Even retailers like Target are now equipped to offer AR-based shopping, signifying a shift that’s moving beyond traditional tech companies.
While broad adoption remains in its infancy, early signs are compelling. Pokémon Go’s peak annual revenue hit $1 billion, and Meta’s AI-powered Ray-Ban sunglasses have seen strong demand since launch. Yet, the most interesting shift may be in how these large platforms are opening up. Social giants who once thrived in walled gardens are now releasing SDKs and encouraging user-generated content (UGC). This shift suggests a need for content on these newly minted devices and a recognition that closed ecosystems alone won’t drive AR/MR adoption.
https://youtu.be/pPLWIL64sgQ?si=ULZOLF2gSRquoN6q
https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/4d3a7da1-700a-4602-bc84-446f6b3cb257/89aa1310-81b0-4e2a-98fb-8ba5873bcc43/Amplify_Video.mp4
Platforms like Meta and Snap, traditionally closed ecosystems, are opening up. They’re now courting UGC in ways they never have before, signaling a major distribution shift. As they drop their guard and open up SDKs, there’s an unprecedented opportunity for new products to thrive within these ecosystems. But we’re not talking about simple overlays anymore. This is about truly integrating digital elements into our physical world—smart glasses that let you interact with digital menus at a restaurant, or spaces that come alive with digital content only visible to you.
This shift creates a significant distribution catalyst for emerging AR/MR products. By enabling the creation and distribution of user-generated content, these platforms can achieve scale and foster engagement faster than ever. And for new players, this opens up a pathway to piggyback on the hardware investments these tech giants are making.
Simultaneously, the technology is progressing in ways that make creation easier than ever. Generative 3D model providers, like Luma, are breaking down barriers to entry, democratizing the creation of spatial assets. At the same time, WebGPU is enabling rich, spatially aware experiences on web and mobile, with no specialized hardware needed. It’s making immersive AR/MR more accessible, accelerating the pace of innovation by eliminating some of the cost and complexity.
Apple’s 4M-21 model is pushing the envelope further, bringing complex multimodal capabilities to mobile devices. Now, AR apps on an iPhone can leverage camera data to achieve a level of contextual awareness that was previously impossible. This is where the magic lies—not just in overlaying digital elements but in blending them so seamlessly with the physical world that they feel real. These advances are unlocking new product experiences, bringing us closer to a future where AR/MR is more than just a novelty.
1. AR/MR/Spatial Experience Generation Tools