There’s a new player in town in 3D design and graphics software—a field that has deep roots in Boston.
Lagoa (fka TeamUp) has rolled out a cloud-based interactive rendering and collaboration platform today. The company says this product is the first of its kind. Lagoa has recently raised $1.6 million in seed funding from 500 Startups, Atlas Venture, Real Ventures, Rho Ventures, and angel investors.
The company is headquartered in Montreal, but it opened an office in Cambridge, MA, in late January (with space from Atlas, where partner Fred Destin led the investment). Lagoa’s chief marketing officer Mike Schneider, who leads the local office, tells me the startup is looking to hire a community manager in the Boston area. The company is also building up a European presence in Bonn, Germany.
Lagoa’s software stands out in a crowded field because it can be used to design products collaboratively, all within a Web browser, with nothing downloaded. That could be attractive to design companies, manufacturers, and anyone looking to iterate quickly on consumer or enterprise products. The renderings are meant to be photorealistic and use a sophisticated physics engine—the kind of stuff that used to require lots of expensive equipment and software. But no more.
With its Boston-area office, the company joins a local community of design-technology, product-development, and simulation firms that includes GrabCAD, Belmont Technology, MathWorks, and big companies like PTC and Autodesk.
Lagoa is led by co-founders Thiago Costa (based in Montreal), Dov Amihod (Montreal), and Arno Zinke (based in Bonn). Here’s hoping they spend some quality time in our fair city.
