KOCHI: Attending a meeting of entrepreneurs organised by the TiE or The Indus Entrepreneurs in Kochi in December 2015, Paul K John, son of John K Paul, MD of Popular Vehicles & Services, was impressed by the presentation of Varun Priyan, founder of VRnxt, a three-year-old startup focusing on virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR).
Varun’s presentation was on a blue-print of a building architecture, which gave a virtual reality experience of the structure. “We have been thinking for some time to differentiate ourselves vis-a-vis other car dealers,” said Paul. “We were pioneers in introducing new technology at our showrooms, and we wanted to take the next step.”
A meeting with Varun followed after the presentation, and the discussion was naturally on how he could help Popular to introduce something different for the customers, in terms of giving them a better feel and experience.
The result: VRnxt has come up with India’s first virtual reality auto showroom for Popular Vehicles. In fact, the product is a mobile-based application, which brings down the cost to Rs 15,000-20000 from Rs 1.5-2 lakh/headset. “We are in this industry for one and half years, and nowhere I’ve come across a mobile-based application,” said Varun.
“The Popular VR experience is designed to give prospective customers a three dimensional look, feel and feature of their dream car. The product will allow customers to virtually experience any car from within the showroom or from the comfort of their home or office. Customers can inspect vehicles, choose from different modules or check out the different colours and understand the new features,” said Paul.
Added Gloria Mahesh, brand manager, Popular Vehicles & Services: “The implementation of the project was an interesting journey to all of us. There was a lot of travel involved. We had to create the best team of script writers, presenters and coordinators all from in-house.” For Varun, this is perhaps the take-off point for his startup. He had quit a high-paying job at American multinational Cisco in Bengaluru to pursue his passion of VR/AR.
Helping Varun is his co-founder Sephin Thomas, who has vast experience on game development and animation.
The first product by VRnxt was for the real estate sector, which gives the prospective customers a virtual reality feel as if one’s really inside an apartment. The clients for the product include Kalyan Developers, and two other real estate firms in Bengaluru.
“Once you wear headset, you are immersed into the experience as if you are actually inside the apartment. You look up and you see the ceiling, look down to see the flooring. Even the view from the balcony can be experienced. The view is designed for each floor. So, the view from the 8th floor will be different from say the 10th floor,” said Varun. His next target: Get funding of $150, 000 from an Angel investor for 15 per cent stake for the startup, given that he reckoned VRNxt to be valued at $1million.