GridRaster, a Palo Alto-based VR/AR startup, recently announced a seed funding round of nearly $2 million to strengthen and develop its mobile VR/AR rendering infrastructure. GridRaster claims to deliver high-fidelity graphics with 10x better performance compared to standalone mobile platforms, a feat achieved through a cloud computing optimization method called “edge computing.”

Offloading real-time graphics rendering from power-limited mobile devices to the cloud can provide significant performance benefits, but at the expense of latency, an essential factor that must be minimized in virtual reality and augmented reality applications. Edge computing is an evolving paradigm in cloud computing optimization, where typical latency issues associated with the cloud can be mitigated. According to the press release provided to Road to virtual realityGridRaster leverages this technology “to redefine the network and compute stack across multiple layers: device, network, and cloud edge.”

VR/AR devices using mobile chipsets are expected to remain the largest sector for years to come, and while CPU and GPU performance will improve significantly, power and heat will continue to be limiting factors. In his keynote address at Oculus Connect 4 in October, John Carmack lamented the end of Moore’s Law, warning that PC performance “will never come to a mobile platform” and that developers must be prepared to “accept the grind ” of eternal mobile optimization. GridRaster’s edge cloud infrastructure can offer a potential alternative, or at least an additional tool, to extract higher performance from mobile platforms.

As explained in the press release, GridRaster “provides the underlying infrastructure to distribute and manage loads across servers, dynamically optimizing network bandwidth and intelligently reducing latency to enable compelling immersive experiences,” claiming to offer “graphics high fidelity with ultra-low latency” with a 10x increase in performance over the mobile platform alone and easy integration into popular engines like Unity.

“GridRaster’s software technology approach helps further advance augmented reality and virtual reality experiences by offloading processing to remote servers and clouds to support real-time collaboration of complex 3D models with significantly reduced power requirements. on mobile devices,” said John Haddick, CTO of Osterhout Design Group, one of the select group of GridRaster clients mentioned in the press release. “This is an exciting technology application for ODG smart glasses as we work with enterprise customers who want to create and collaborate in mixed reality or create immersive 3D interactive experiences. We are impressed by what your software can achieve in a wide range of mobile environments.”

The nearly $2 million funding round consists of investments from several venture capital firms, including Lumia Capital, Pipeline Capital, Exfinity Ventures, NextStar Partners, Unshackled Ventures, and Explorer Group. Istvan Jonyer, director of NexStar Partners, made perhaps the boldest statement about the transformative potential of technology:

“We see that the future of virtual reality is powered by the mobile phone, which everyone has in their pockets,” says Joyner. “GridRaster’s technology will turn these phones into high-end VR HMDs at an attractive price to enable high-end VR and augmented reality experiences for businesses and consumers at scale.”

“We are just beginning to see the capabilities that this technology can bring to the VR/AR space,” said Rishi Ranjan, founder and CEO of GridRaster. “We have proven our core technology by working with great partners. Now, with new capital, we will work to strengthen our development team and mature the product for specific enterprise and customer use cases as we continue to establish GridRaster as the standard and platform of choice for high-end, cloud-powered VR/AR.” .