A week in AI is like a year in other industries. I hope these issues become your weekly source of AI information, inspiration, and ideas. If we haven’t met before, I’m Amanda Smith. I write about AI and the fascinating folks who are building in this brave new world.
Good morning. Speaking to founders building on the bleeding edge of tech is the coolest part of my job. And what better breakthrough to cover (and critique) than AI, the fastest growing technology of our time.
I keep thinking about something another reporter said: It’s our job as journalists to be regulators when there’s no regulation. Always approach with skepticism and ask, “why do we need AI for this?”
I keep this front of mind when I’m interviewing AI founders.
This week, you’re in for a treat.
This week in AI:
Perplexity to pay $400M to power search in Snapchat
The AI search engine will be integrated directly within Snapchat for the near one billion users.
EU is backing down from strict AI rules
Brussels is proposing a one-year “grace period” for companies breaching high-risk laws, to turbocharge growth and innovation.
Tech stocks take near $1 trillion nosedive
NASDAQ slumped 3% as eight major AI stocks lost $800B in market value. Concerns around AI investments and a weak economy were cited as causes.
Company background: DEVAR
Founded: 2015
Team size: 50
Funding to date: Bootstrapped
MRR: Not disclosed
Growth metric: Over 250,000 users in 180 countries
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She built a no-code AR platform, before it was cool
Anna Belova had an unlikely path into tech. It was 2015 and she wanted to create augmented reality (AR) books for children – to be able to bring the characters to life.
The problem was, she wasn’t a programmer but therein lied the million-dollar idea: To create AR experiences without technical skills, much like Canva did for the design space.
Belova went on to sell 15 million copies worldwide, working with the likes of Nickelodeon. Ironically, her company, DEVAR got their first patent for coloring technology with AR one week before Disney.
She knocked on hundreds of doors of publishing houses, fascinated by marrying new tech with an old market. Everyone told her they didn’t believe in the use case. This was a decade before Apple Vision Pro and Meta glasses.
The market was ice cold… but the success of her books told another story.
Soon after, Belova launched a no-code AR platform that allows anyone to create without programming skills, with the help of gen AI. In less than a year, the platform became a global sensation and was being used by major names such as Meta, Google, McDonalds, and Nasdaq.
Today, MyWebAR by DEVAR has over 250,000 users across 180 countries, including 200 universities. She pioneered text-to-3D, enabling developers to create 3D models from written prompts, long before it became a trend.
Belova used profits from the book sales to fund MyWebAR.
Novelty as the growth strategy
“90% of our users came to us organically,” she said. They never had to spend money on ads because the word of mouth was so strong.
“We made AR usable for non-tech people, which meant we could target designers, marketers, creativity professionals, and small business owners.” The few competitors they had at the time only wanted to work with programmers.
The use cases are only limited by one's imagination. Think real world + an additional layer.
“75% of our users were people who had never used augmented reality before,” Belova said. “We’ve reached 2,000 new daily sign-ups.”
Partnerships have been a key component of their growth. One such example is the activation they did during the 2024 Japanese Sakura Festival. A restaurant gave guests a virtual journey across Japan with a 3D viewing of nature, art, and culture, while they enjoyed their meal. “We turned a simple food experience into an art experience. It got a huge amount of media coverage.”
Customer segments
Their four main types of customers and use cases are:
Marketing campaigns
Consumer products
Education
Phygital
“When people see a commercial video, our attention span is around 15 seconds. But when we see an AR experience, our attention span averages three minutes,” she shared.
“For packaging, it can be anything like dairy products, milk cartons, chocolate bars, and tea. It’s perfect for children because they can experience a small Disneyland during breakfast.”
“Education is a huge area of growth for us. We have over 200 universities and schools in our platform, including Ivy League institutions. They use it for student work, AR experiences, science experiments, and in the lab. Everything you and I learned from pages, now they can see in real life.”
MyWebAR can bring AR experiences directly into their websites, which increases traffic and engagement. Users don’t need to download a special app – it’s all browsed based and can be white-labeled.
From a marketing perspective, AR can be the entry point for offline users to a brand’s digital space. Instead of having a product on the shelf and not knowing who bought it, the brand can add AR in the packaging. MyWebAR can then integrate with Meta and Google to the ads account for better targeting.
Belova suggests creating something that’s truly magical or surprising. AR is no ordinary QR code.
Trans-functional roles
Belova is bullish on using AI/AR to have “more hands to bring your imagination to life,” rather than replace them. A human of a new generation, as she puts it.
She talks about the trans-functional roles of today, where people have one strong professional skill, as well as complimentary capabilities. “AI can create new roles in the company where every person can be more effective and spend more time in their creativity.”
Multiple roles in one person + their personal AI. This is what Belova calls “transactional architecture.”
Belova spends a lot of her time as a founder in education mode. She publishes explainers on the company website, speaks at events, and writes articles for Forbes and Entrepreneur on how AR can be helpful for business.
Takeaways
Always think about your user. You can have an amazing product or idea, but it doesn’t land with regular people.
Think about AI as a way to replicate your team, rather than replace them. Every employee should have a personal AI.
Just because non-designers can create with AI, it doesn’t mean it’s special. Use these tools to unlock your imagination and create experiences that are truly magical.
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