Spatial apps creation and collaboration platform startup ShapesXR today announced that it has raised $8.6 million in new funding to expand its platform to new devices, including Apple Vision Pro, Pico and Magic Leap.

Founded in 2016 as Shapes Corp., ShapesXR offers a web-based platform that allows users to instantly create fully immersive scenes and populate them with crucial artifacts. The company claims to democratize 3D content creation and spatial design, allowing technical and nontechnical users to craft 3D designs, prototype immersive apps like virtual reality and augmented reality games and collaborate on real-world projects.

Using ShapesXR, the company says, consumers and enterprises can quickly design fully immersive content with 3D objects, environments, mock-ups and experience labs. The platform also offers storytelling capabilities that enable designers to show interactive content “coming to life in the real world.” ShapesXR was built to be accessible to all, not just designers, with product owners, producers and different stakeholders able to contribute to the product being developed.

ShapesXR has an impressive lineup of companies using its platform. Meta Platforms Inc. comes as no surprise given its leading position in the VR world, but the platform is also used by companies such as Logitech International SA, ByteDance Technology Ltd., Qualcomm Inc., FitXR Inc., Pico Interactive Inc., Nanome Ltd. and Tripp LLC to create apps and virtual spaces.

Logitech and ByteDance use ShapesXR for their ideation processes and collaborative ventures, while Qualcomm has used the platform to create immersive experiences, such as the XR music collaboration with Trigger XR and Duran Duran.

Notably, Meta founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is a big fan, having previously referred to ShapesXR as “one of the most promising VR applications I have come across” and the “future of collaborative design.”

“VR has such huge potential to transform how we all collaborate on projects and design new products; however, one of the main barriers to entry is the level of technical skill required to get started,” ShapesXR founder and CEO Inga Petryaevskaya said ahead of the announcement. “ShapesXR has been built to remove these hurdles — it’s as easy to learn as PowerPoint. This truly democratizes 3D content creation and enables anyone to become a VR, AR and mixed-reality storyteller.”

ShapeXR’s seed round was led by Supernode Global LLC, with a long list of other companies also participating. Participants in the seed round included Triptyq Ventures LLC, Boost VC Management Co. LLC, Hartmann Capital LLC, Geek Ventures LLC, The WXR Fund LLC, StratMinds VC LLC, Ludus Ventures LLC, The Venture Reality Fund LLC, HTC Vive XR Fund LLC, Leta Capital LLC and Remote First Capital LLC.

Image: ShapesXR