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Layar

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Layar
Information
Industry Augmented reality
Founded June 2009
Founder Raimo van der Klein, Claire Boonstra, Maarten Lens-FitzGerald
Headquarters Amsterdam, Netherlands
Notable Personnel Raimo van der Klein (CEO until 2012), Quintin Schevernels (CEO from 2012), Dirk Groten (CTO)
Products Layar app (AR browser), Layar Vision, Layar Creator, Layar SDK, Layar Connect API
Parent Blippar (from 2014)


Layar was a Dutch augmented reality company based in Amsterdam that developed an early mobile AR browser. Founded in June 2009 by Raimo van der Klein, Claire Boonstra and Maarten Lens-FitzGerald, it released a free smartphone app that placed web content, called "layers", over the live camera view, using the phone's GPS, compass and camera to work out what the user was looking at.[1][2][3] The app came pre-installed on phones from several manufacturers and was downloaded tens of millions of times.[3][4][5]

From 2011 Layar added image recognition, and from 2012 it concentrated on "interactive print": magazine pages, advertisements and packaging that show video, links and buy buttons when scanned with the app.[1][6] The UK company Blippar bought Layar in June 2014.[7] The Amsterdam office closed in 2016, and after Blippar entered administration in December 2018 the Layar website told visitors not to sign up for or pay for Layar services.[3][8]

Reviewed 4 October 2026. Founding, funding, product launches, user figures, Blippar acquisition, Blippar administration and layar.com redirect checked against the cited TechCrunch, TNW, VentureBeat, PR Newswire, Engadget, Business Insider, Next Reality and archived layar.com pages. About review dates.

History

Founding and the AR browser (2009)

The three founders were inspired by Vernor Vinge's science fiction novel Rainbows End, in which people see the real and virtual worlds at the same time through Internet-connected contact lenses.[2] The browser was developed by the company SPRXmobile and launched on Android in June 2009.[9][10] Layar later described itself as having been "one of the first mobile augmented reality browsers to hit the market".[11] About three weeks after launch, in July 2009, the company opened an API so that outside developers could publish their own layers. It planned to pick 50 developers at first and give them documentation, tools and a test environment. TechCrunch listed Tonchidot's Sekai Camera and Mobilizy's Wikitude among similar AR browsers.[10]

The iPhone version reached the App Store on 14 October 2009.[12] Macworld reported that Layar 2.0 for the iPhone 3GS was free, required iPhone OS 3.1 or later and offered 161 layers, with content from services such as Wikipedia, Yelp, Google local search and Twitter.[13] The app was pulled from the App Store in December 2009 because of bugs and came back in March 2010.[14]

Growth and funding (2010-2011)

On 15 February 2010 Layar announced a €2.5 million (US$3.4 million) Series A round from Sunstone Capital and Prime Technology Ventures. It also announced a global distribution deal with one of the top three handset makers. At that point it had 1 million users and 375 published layers, with more than 1,200 in development.[15] In April 2010 it opened a store for paid layers, with revenue split 60/40 between developers and Layar. The first paid layers were aimed at tourists and included a layer from the travel-guide publisher Berlitz and a layer for Disneyland and Walt Disney World.[16]

Layar 3.5, released for Android in June 2010, added a "Stream" view: a list of nearby content sorted by time, distance and popularity, so users no longer had to hold the phone up to find layers. TechCrunch reported more than 700 published layers and 32 employees at the time.[17] Later that month the company signed pre-installation deals with LG, Samsung, TCT Mobile and an unnamed Chinese manufacturer. VentureBeat reported that these deals would make Layar available on one third of the world's smartphones, and that Layar put its audience at 2.2 million, with 700,000 people using it in the previous month.[4] In September 2010 TIME profiled van der Klein and Layar in "10 Start-Ups That Will Change Your Life", a feature on World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers.[2]

In November 2010 Intel Capital led a US$14 million Series B round, joined by Sunstone Capital and Prime Ventures. The announcement described Layar as having more than 1 million active users on Android, iPhone and Samsung's bada, thousands of developers and 1,500 layers.[18] The World Economic Forum named Layar a Technology Pioneer for 2011.[1]

On 2 August 2011 the company announced Layar Vision, which let a phone recognize real-world objects such as posters, magazines and newspapers and show digital content on top of them. It could detect up to 50 target objects, which could be combined with existing location-based layers. Layar said at the time that its app had 10 million installs, 10,000 developers and more than 2,500 layers, and that it came pre-installed on millions of phones and was promoted by companies including Samsung, Verizon and Sprint.[1] The Register reported that Layar Vision could recognize 2D and 3D objects and that developers would pay by usage: the first 1,000 uses were free, then €249 for up to 10,000 or €449 for up to 50,000.[19]

Interactive print (2012-2014)

Layar launched Layar Creator on 5 June 2012. It was a self-service web tool for uploading print pages as images or PDFs and dragging buttons for video, links and purchases onto them, with no QR codes or special markers needed. Publishing was free until 1 August 2012 and then cost €15 per page or €999 for a 100-page bundle.[20] The Next Web reported 20 million app downloads, about 3 million monthly active users and €12.5 million raised in total from Intel Capital, Sunstone Capital and Prime Ventures.[6]

That month Quintin Schevernels, formerly chief operating officer of VNU Media, became CEO. Van der Klein stayed on as creative director.[21] Schevernels told Emerce that his first task was to make print media more interactive. He named pilots with the Dutch titles LINDA., VPRO-gids and VT Wonen, and said the app had between 2.5 and 3 million monthly users, a disproportionate share of them in the Netherlands.[22]

In August 2013 Layar released a redesigned app, logo and website, with a "Recent Content" feature for returning to content already viewed. The Next Web reported 33 million app downloads by then.[23] Android Police noted that the new material mostly promoted print and advertising uses and gave the original location-based Geo Layers only a brief mention.[24]

Acquisition by Blippar (2014)

TechCrunch first reported Blippar's purchase of Layar on 10 June 2014, and Blippar confirmed it on 18 June. Terms were not disclosed. TechCrunch put Layar's total funding at about US$17 million, from Intel Capital, Sunstone and others.[25][7] According to The Next Web, Blippar paid an undisclosed sum in cash, the deal took three to four months to complete, Layar had 30 to 40 staff, and the two companies had about 50 million users combined. Blippar CEO Ambarish Mitra said Layar had been "going after smaller-to-medium businesses" while Blippar worked with large brands.[26] In an internal memo quoted by TechCrunch, Mitra wrote that the combined company would be able to compete with Metaio and Vuforia.[25]

In 2017 Business Insider cited a source who said Layar had 45 million total users and 1.2 million active users when it was sold. Business Insider also reported that Layar gave Blippar its own AR technology, since Blippar had been relying on Qualcomm's Vuforia, and that van der Klein had already left Layar before the sale while Lens-FitzGerald and Boonstra left shortly after it.[3] After the acquisition Layar's website described it as part of the Blippar group. The site listed its Amsterdam office at Vijzelstraat 20 and said the Layar and Blippar apps had been downloaded more than 46 million times.[11]

Decline and Blippar's administration (2016-2019)

According to Business Insider, the Amsterdam office closed in 2016. Some employees moved to London and the rest left the company. In July 2017 the publication reported that Lens-FitzGerald and van der Klein, who were then running a start-up called Teamily, had informally raised the idea of buying Layar back from Blippar. A source said Mitra turned the approach down. A Blippar spokeswoman said the company had "not received or rejected an acquisition offer for Layar" and that Layar's technology had been part of Blippar's wider AR service for some time.[3]

Blippar announced on 18 December 2018 that it was entering administration and that all of its employees would be let go.[27] A notice on layar.com said that joint administrators of Blippar.com Ltd had been appointed on 17 December 2018 and asked visitors not to sign up for or make further payments for Layar services.[8] The administrators' asset sale, run by Hilco Streambank, included the Layar brand and its standalone AR platform. Van der Klein confirmed to Next Reality that he and Lens-FitzGerald had bid for the Layar app and its image recognition technology, and said that one option was to focus on smart glasses.[28][29] Later that month Candy Ventures, a former Blippar investor, bought Blippar's assets to relaunch the company around its Blippbuilder platform. TechCrunch's report on the sale did not mention Layar.[30]

By mid-2020 the Layar home page told visitors to use Blippbuilder to create AR experiences instead.[31] By June 2024 the layar.com address redirected to Blippar's website.[32]

Products

Product Introduced Description
Layar app (AR browser) 2009 Free browser for Android and iPhone, later also bada and Symbian, that showed geo-located "layers" over the camera view[10][1]
Layar developer API and layer publishing July 2009 Let third parties build and publish layers; a paid layer store with a 60/40 revenue split followed in April 2010[10][16]
Layar Vision August 2011 Recognition of 2D and 3D objects, up to 50 target objects, with usage-based pricing after the first 1,000 uses[1][19]
Layar Creator June 2012 Self-service web tool for adding video, links and buy buttons to print pages[20]
Layar for Google Glass March 2014 (beta) Glass app started with "ok glass, scan this"[33]
Layar SDK, Layar Connect API and App Service By 2014 SDK for putting Layar technology inside other apps, an API for bulk content publishing, and custom-branded apps[5]

XR work

Layar's browser was an early, widely distributed example of location-based Phone-Powered AR. It combined GPS, the compass, the accelerometer and the camera to place points of interest over the live view, and TIME's 2010 description also listed the gyroscope.[2][3] With Layar Vision in 2011 it moved from location alone to computer vision-based recognition of printed images and objects.[1]

The company also brought its content to head-worn displays. After receiving Google Glass hardware in summer 2013, Layar built a dedicated Glass app and released it in beta on 20 March 2014. Users said "ok glass, scan this" to view content from what Layar said were 200,000 interactive print pages and 6,000 location-based Geo Layers. CTO Dirk Groten said the team "didn't just port Layar to Glass" but built an app designed specifically for it.[33][34] In 2019 van der Klein told Next Reality that a revived Layar might focus on smart glasses.[28]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Layar Vision Opens the Door to the Next Generation of Augmented Reality Experiences". PR Newswire. Layar. 2011-08-02. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/layar-vision-opens-the-door-to-the-next-generation-of-augmented-reality-experiences-126574663.html. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "10 Start-Ups That Will Change Your Life: Raimo van der Klein". TIME. 2010-09-09. https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2017050_2017049_2017043,00.html. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Shona Ghosh (2017-07-05). "The cofounders who sold augmented reality app Layar to Blippar want to buy it back". Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/layar-founders-want-to-buy-their-company-back-from-blippar-2017-7. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Camille Ricketts (2010-06-18). "Layar to bring its augmented reality to one-third of global smartphones". VentureBeat. https://venturebeat.com/2010/06/18/layars-augmented-reality-footprint-grows-to-one-third-of-global-smartphones/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Our Products". Layar. 2014-07-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20140706052922/https://www.layar.com/products/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Robin Wauters (2012-06-05). "With Creator, augmented reality startup Layar shifts focus to interactive print". The Next Web. https://thenextweb.com/news/with-creator-augmented-reality-startup-layar-shifts-focus-to-interactive-print. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Mike Butcher (2014-06-18). "UK Startup Blippar Confirms It has Acquired AR Pioneer Layar". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2014/06/18/uk-startup-blippar-acquires-ar-pioneer-layar/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Layar home page (notice from the administrators of Blippar.com Ltd)". Layar. 2019-06-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20190602045147/https://www.layar.com/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  9. ↑ Rob Jackson (2009-06-18). "Layar: Augmented Reality Browser For Android". Phandroid. https://phandroid.com/2009/06/18/layar-augmented-reality-browser-for-android/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 "Layar Wants More Layers, Opens Augmented Reality Platform To Developers". TechCrunch. 2009-07-08. https://techcrunch.com/2009/07/08/layar-wants-more-layers-opens-augmented-reality-platform-to-developers/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "About Layar". Layar. 2015-03-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20150320195809/https://www.layar.com/about/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  12. ↑ "Layar Brings Augmented Reality Browser To The iPhone (Screenshots)". TechCrunch. 2009-10-14. https://techcrunch.com/2009/10/14/layar-brings-augmented-reality-browser-to-the-iphone-screenshots/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  13. ↑ Nicholas Bonsack (2009-10-15). "Layar augmented reality app now available for iPhone 3GS". Macworld. https://www.macworld.com/article/200637/layar.html. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  14. ↑ Kat Hannaford (2010-03-03). "Layar, the iPhone's Best (Augmented Reality) App, Is Back In the App Store". Gizmodo. http://gizmodo.com/5484491/layar-the-iphones-best-augmented-reality-app-is-back-in-the-app-store. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  15. ↑ "Layar Scores $3.4M In Funding, Global Distribution Agreement". TechCrunch. 2010-02-15. https://techcrunch.com/2010/02/15/layar-scores-3-4m-in-funding-global-distribution-agreement/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Layar Launches Store for Augmented Reality Layers". TechCrunch. 2010-04-29. https://techcrunch.com/2010/04/29/layar-launches-store-for-augmented-reality-layers/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  17. ↑ "Layar debuts new augmented reality browser, bets big on content discovery". TechCrunch. 2010-06-02. https://techcrunch.com/2010/06/02/layar-debuts-new-augmented-reality-browser-bets-big-on-content-discovery/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  18. ↑ Richard Brown (2010-11-17). "Layar receives $14 million round of investment". PocketGamer.biz. https://www.pocketgamer.biz/layar-receives-14-million-round-of-investment/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Bill Ray (2011-08-12). "Layar gets a Vision, and a revenue stream". The Register. https://www.theregister.com/2011/08/12/layar_ar/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Anthony Verrecchio (2012-06-05). "Layar Creator sees an interactive future for print media via augmented reality". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2012-06-05-layar-creator-printed-media-augmented-reality.html. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  21. ↑ Jon Fingas (2012-06-20). "Layar chief exits CEO spot in favor of print guru, edges closer to augmented reality magazine dreams". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2012-06-20-layar-chief-exits-ceo-spot-in-favor-of-print-guru.html. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  22. ↑ Erwin Boogert (2012-06-20). "Quintin Schevernels nieuwe directeur Layar". Emerce. https://www.emerce.nl/nieuws/quintin-schevernels-nieuwe-directeur-layar. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  23. ↑ Paul Sawers (2013-08-15). "Layar augments its reality with a redesigned mobile app, website and logo". The Next Web. https://thenextweb.com/news/augmented-reality-startup-layar-launches. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  24. ↑ Jeremiah Rice (2013-08-15). "Layar Redesigns Augmented Reality App, Logo, And Website: Is It Still Worth Using?". Android Police. https://www.androidpolice.com/2013/08/15/layar-redesigns-augmented-reality-app-logo-and-website-is-it-still-worth-using/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Ingrid Lunden (2014-06-10). "Augmented Reality Augmentation: Blippar Has Bought Layar". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2014/06/10/augmented-reality-augmentation-blippar-has-bought-layar/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  26. ↑ Ben Woods (2014-06-18). "Augmented reality matures: Blippar confirms Layar acquisition, no immediate plans to rock the boat". The Next Web. https://thenextweb.com/news/augmented-reality-matures-blippar-confirms-layar-acquisition-immediate-plans-rock-boat. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  27. ↑ Lucas Matney (2018-12-18). "After $130M+ in funding, AR startup Blippar collapses". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/18/after-130m-in-funding-ar-startup-blippar-collapses/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Tommy Palladino (2019-01-11). "Exclusive: Layar Founders Hope to Buy Back Company in Blippar Asset Sale". Next Reality. https://mobile-ar.reality.news/news/exclusive-layar-founders-hope-buy-back-company-blippar-asset-sale-0192464/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  29. ↑ Maija Palmer (2019-01-04). "Goodbye Blippar, welcome back Layar?". Sifted. https://sifted.eu/articles/goodbye-blippar-welcome-back-layar. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  30. ↑ Lucas Matney (2019-01-23). "Blippar finds life after death as former investor buys assets to relaunch AR startup". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/23/blippar-finds-life-after-death-as-former-investor-buys-assets-to-relaunch-ar-startup/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  31. ↑ "Layar home page". Layar. 2020-06-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20200602054048/https://www.layar.com/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  32. ↑ "layar.com (archived capture redirecting to blippar.com)". Internet Archive. 2024-06-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20240605235610/https://www.layar.com/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Jordan Kahn (2014-03-20). "'Layar' augmented reality app for Google Glass arrives in beta". 9to5Google. https://9to5google.com/2014/03/20/layar-augmented-reality-app-for-google-glass-arrives-in-beta-video/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  34. ↑ Daniel Cooper (2014-03-20). "Layar brings its augmented reality to Google Glass". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2014-03-20-layar-google-glass-app.html. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
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