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Ori Inbar

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Ori Inbar is an entrepreneur, investor and conference organizer working in augmented reality (AR). He co-founded Augmented World Expo (AWE), whose first event took place in 2010, and founded Super Ventures, an investment fund focused on early-stage AR companies.[1][2] He was also a co-founder and CEO of Ogmento, an AR game development and publishing company established in 2009.[3][4][1]

Inbar's work includes industry events, startup investment and advocacy for shared AR infrastructure. His September 2017 essay described an AR Cloud that would let digital content remain attached to physical places and be shared across users and devices.[5]

Professional background and early AR work

Before his AR ventures, Inbar worked at TopTier Software and at SAP. His professional biography identifies his SAP position as senior vice president of solution marketing for the company's platform, with responsibility for positioning and marketing SAP NetWeaver.[3] A May 2009 interview identified him as a former SAP senior vice president and discussed his move into mobile AR development.[6]

Inbar established Games Alfresco, a blog about AR, and founded Pookatak Games, which became Ogmento. By July 2009, he was working with entertainment industry figures Brian Selzer and Brad Foxhoven on Ogmento. In an interview that month, he described plans for the company to develop its own games and help other AR development teams bring their projects to market.[4]

On 2 July 2009, Inbar published and signed an open letter to Apple requesting a public iPhone application programming interface for accessing live video. The letter argued that the absence of this interface prevented developers from publishing camera-based AR applications through the App Store. It included signatories from AR companies and research institutions.[7]

Ogmento announced US$3.5 million in venture funding in May 2010.[8] Inbar's February 2016 Super Ventures announcement described Ogmento as having become Flyby Media and said Apple had acquired it.[9]

AWE and event organization

Inbar co-founded AWE in 2010. The event was initially called the Augmented Reality Event (ARE). His February 2010 announcement listed 2-3 June in Santa Clara, California, and presented ARE as a meeting for the commercial AR industry. He distinguished its business focus from the research focus of ISMAR, the International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality.[1][10]

AugmentedReality.org, which Inbar co-founded, was the nonprofit organization producing AWE.[3][1] AWE subsequently developed conferences and exhibitions in the United States, Europe and Asia, alongside meetups, educational programs, recorded talks and the Auggie Awards. Its scope includes AR, virtual reality and other immersive technologies.[11]

In 2022, Inbar and Dace Campbell took part in a Zappar presentation introducing AWE's US$100,000 XR Prize Challenge: Fight Climate Change. The competition invited AR and VR projects addressing climate change; the presentation described the prize and submission process.[12]

On 30 January 2025, AWE and Stereopsia announced that they would jointly produce United XR Europe, replacing their separate European events. The announcement identified Inbar as an executive producer.[13] UnitedXR Europe's team page lists him and Alexandra Gérard as co-founders and co-directors.[14] AWE's 18 June 2026 event recap identified Inbar as its CEO and co-founder and recorded his participation in the closing presentation and Best in Show awards.[15]

Super Ventures and startup support

Inbar announced Super Ventures' inaugural US$10 million fund and AR incubator on 19 February 2016. The announced partnership consisted of Inbar, Matt Miesnieks, Tom Emrich and Mark Billinghurst. The launch named Waygo, a visual translation application, and Fringefy, a visual search company, among its initial investments.[9] IEEE's December 2016 profile described the partners' work as both funding startups and mentoring them.[1]

The fund describes its investment stages as pre-seed and seed. Its team page, checked in October 2026, lists Inbar as founder and managing partner, Emrich as mentor and adviser, Miesnieks as mentor, and Billinghurst as venture partner.[2]

Super Ventures also participated in the launch of RLab at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. NYU Tandon's 24 October 2018 announcement described a planned early-stage fund administered by Super Ventures to support companies accepted into RLab's VR/AR accelerator. Inbar, identified in the announcement as Super Ventures' founder and managing partner, described the collaboration as startup funding and business support.[16]

AR Cloud and shared infrastructure

In his 12 September 2017 essay about ARKit and ARCore, Inbar argued that wider adoption of mobile AR would require persistent, shared experiences. He proposed an AR Cloud with a point cloud aligned to physical coordinates, localization across multiple devices, and tools for placing and interacting with virtual content. These were proposed infrastructure requirements and an investment thesis.[5]

Open AR Cloud's October 2018 launch account credited Inbar with introducing the term in that essay. It described the association's origins in discussions at AWE earlier that year, and listed Inbar among its founding governing board members.[17] An IEEE technical white paper published in November 2019 also associated the term with Inbar and discussed a persistent virtual representation aligned with the physical world and shared among people.[18]

Inbar presented the subject in a VR/AR Association webinar on 2 May 2018 alongside developers of AR Cloud systems. Its discussion included spatial data, open standards, content discovery and business applications.[19] Open AR Cloud's current organizational page lists him as a founding honorary board member.[20]

Documented professional roles

Organization Role Source context
AWE Co-founder and CEO Identified in AWE's 18 June 2026 event recap.[15]
Super Ventures Founder and managing partner Listed on the fund's team page, checked 12 October 2026.[2]
UnitedXR Europe Co-founder and co-director Listed on the event's team page, checked 12 October 2026.[14]
Open AR Cloud Founding honorary board member Listed on the association's organizational page, checked 12 October 2026.[20]
Reviewed 12 October 2026. Public professional history, dated event and investment announcements, organization role listings, and AR Cloud publications checked against all 20 cited sources. About review dates.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Monica Rozenfeld (2016-12). "Investing in an Augmented World". IEEE, The Institute, volume 40, issue 4, page 16. https://ethw-images.s3.us-east-va.perf.cloud.ovh.us/ethw/1/16/Tidec16.pdf. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Super Ventures - Early Stage Augmented Reality Fund". Super Ventures. https://www.superventures.com/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "About The Authors". Games Alfresco. https://gamesalfresco.com/about/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Tish Shute (2009-07-28). "Augmented Reality’s Growth is Exponential: Ogmento – “Reality Reinvented,” talking with Ori Inbar". UgoTrade. https://www.ugotrade.com/2009/07/28/augmented-realitys-growth-is-exponential-ogmento-reality-reinvented-talking-with-ori-inbar/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Ori Inbar (2017-09-12). "ARKit and ARCore will not usher massive adoption of mobile AR". Super Ventures Blog. https://medium.com/super-ventures-blog/arkit-and-arcore-will-not-usher-massive-adoption-of-mobile-ar-da3d87f7e5ad. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  6. ↑ Tish Shute (2009-05-06). "Composing Reality and Bringing Games into Life: Talking with Ori Inbar about Mobile Augmented Reality". UgoTrade. https://www.ugotrade.com/2009/05/06/composing-reality-and-bringing-games-into-life-talking-with-ori-inbar-about-mobile-augmented-reality/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  7. ↑ Ori Inbar (2009-07-02). "Open Letter to Apple: Let us Augment Reality with the iPhone!". Games Alfresco. https://gamesalfresco.com/2009/07/02/open-letter-to-apple-let-us-augment-reality-with-the-iphone/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  8. ↑ Ben Gilbert (2010-05-26). "Ogmento secures $3.5 million for augmented reality game development and publishing". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2010-05-26-ogmento-secures-3-5-million-for-augmented-reality-game-developm.html. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Ori Inbar (2016-02-19). "Super Ventures launches first fund and incubator dedicated to augmented reality". Games Alfresco. https://gamesalfresco.com/2016/02/19/super-ventures-launches-first-fund-and-incubator-dedicated-to-augmented-reality/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  10. ↑ Ori Inbar (2010-02-04). "Who Should Attend The Augmented Reality Event in Santa Clara, CA June 2nd & 3rd, 2010". Games Alfresco. https://gamesalfresco.com/2010/02/04/who-should-attend-the-augmented-reality-event-in-santa-clara-ca-june-2nd-3rd-2010/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  11. ↑ "About AWE". AWE. https://www.awexr.com/about_awe. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  12. ↑ "Go XR, Save the World - Introducing the XR Prize Challenge: Fight Climate Change". Zappar, XR Pioneers 2022. https://www.zappar.com/xr-pioneers/2022/go-xr-save-the-world-introducing-the-xr-prize-chal/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  13. ↑ AWE (Augmented World Expo) (2025-01-30). "AWE and Stereopsia Join Forces to Co-Produce Europe's Ultimate XR Event: United XR Europe". PR Newswire. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/awe-and-stereopsia-join-forces-to-co-produce-europes-ultimate-xr-event-united-xr-europe-302364054.html. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Meet the Team". UnitedXR Europe. https://unitedxr.eu/meet-the-team. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 AWE Team (2026-06-18). "AWE USA 2026 Final Day Recap". AWE. https://www.awexr.com/blog/1389-awe-usa-2026-final-day-recap. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  16. ↑ "Unveiling RLab: the First-City Funded VR/AR Center in the Country Opens Doors at Brooklyn Navy Yard". NYU Tandon School of Engineering. 2018-10-24. https://engineering.nyu.edu/news/unveiling-rlab-first-city-funded-vrar-center-country-opens-doors-brooklyn-navy-yard. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  17. ↑ Jan-Erik Vinje (2018-10-18). "Starting the Open AR Cloud journey". Open AR Cloud. https://medium.com/openarcloud/starting-the-open-ar-cloud-journey-9353c37e7542. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  18. ↑ Stefan Boschert and others (2019-11). "Symbiotic Autonomous Systems White Paper III". IEEE Digital Reality Initiative, section 2.1.3.3, pages 38-39. https://digitalreality.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/1SAS_WP3_Nov2019.pdf. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  19. ↑ "Recap of our AR Cloud Webinar and Q&A (The Spatial Web)". VR/AR Association. 2018-05-18. https://www.thevrara.com/news2/2018/5/18/vrara-ar-cloud-webinar-q-a-the-spatial-web. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "About OARC". Open AR Cloud. https://openarcloud.org/about/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
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