Dekko

Dekko was a San Francisco-based technology firm established in 2011 by Matt Miesnieks and Silka Sietsma, focused on developing a sophisticated 3D mapping and augmented reality engine. The company's mission was to create a platform that would enable digital content to interact seamlessly with the real world, viewing its technology as a foundational "operating system for the real world. " Dekko's core product was a software engine designed to allow applications on smartphones and wearable devices, like Google Glass, to understand and digitally reconstruct a physical scene in real-time. This capability would permit animated characters and objects to be inserted into a user's environment, appearing to interact with real-world surfaces and objects.

Matt Miesnieks, a serial entrepreneur with a background in mobile software infrastructure and a long-time focus on augmented reality, served as CEO. His journey in AR included a role at Layar, an early AR startup, which informed his approach at Dekko to move beyond what he considered the gimmicky first wave of AR. He aimed to solve the difficult technical challenges to create genuinely useful and engaging user experiences. The company attracted a team with experience from prominent organizations like Xerox PARC, Twitter, and Electronic Arts. Dekko secured a total of $5.1 million in funding across two rounds, including a $1.9 million seed round in 2012 and a $3.2 million Series A round in 2013, with investors like Bessemer Venture Partners and Blumberg Capital.

Instead of immediately releasing a software development kit (SDK) for third-party developers, Dekko chose to build its own application to showcase the engine's potential. This resulted in the creation of "Tabletop Speed," an AR racing game for iOS, which demonstrated how virtual cars could realistically race on physical surfaces like a table. The business model appeared to be focused on first proving the technology through its own gaming and entertainment applications, with a long-term vision of scaling the mapping technology to cover larger areas, from rooms to city blocks. This would have positioned Dekko as a platform provider for a new generation of AR experiences. However, the company ceased public activity after April 2014 and is now considered defunct. Keywords: augmented reality engine, 3D mapping, computer vision, mobile AR, real-world operating system, wearable computing, AR gaming, Tabletop Speed, Matt Miesnieks, Silka Sietsma, spatial computing, iOS AR, digital-physical interaction, AR platform, defunct startup, Bessemer Venture Partners, Blumberg Capital, 3D reconstruction, mixed reality, AR entertainment, visual layer, real-time mapping