Total Immersion

About Total Immersion

Total Immersion, a French company founded in 1999 by Bruno Uzzan and Valentin Lefèvre, was a notable pioneer in the augmented reality (AR) space. The firm established itself by developing technology that merges interactive 3D graphics with live video streams in real-time. Its operations expanded globally with offices in major cities including Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.

The company's core offering was the D'Fusion software platform, a suite of tools that enabled developers to build and deploy AR applications. This platform included various versions tailored for different uses, such as D'Fusion Pro for large-scale professional events, D'Fusion @Home for consumer applications, and D'Fusion Mobile for smartphones and tablets. The technology supported markerless tracking, gesture recognition, and could be integrated with platforms like Unity and Adobe Flash. Total Immersion's business model focused on providing these AR solutions to a wide range of clients for applications in advertising, gaming, e-commerce, and entertainment. They delivered over 2,700 AR applications for prominent brands like Coca-Cola, Nike, McDonald's, and Paramount Pictures.

A significant application developed by the company was 'TryLive,' a virtual try-on solution. This feature, initially for eyewear, allowed customers to use their device's camera to see how products would look on them, aiming to enhance the online retail experience and reduce returns. In 2011, the company secured $5.5 million in a funding round led by Intel Capital to further enhance the D'Fusion platform and expand its market reach. Despite its early successes and contributions to the AR field, Total Immersion became defunct in 2014 following a reported sale of its intellectual property.