Alban Denoyel (E08), Cédric Pinson and Pierre-Antoine Passet co-founded Sketchfab, the largest platform to publish and find 3D content online, which was just acquired by leading tech developer Epic Games. We look back at his success story.
“Our mission is to make 3D accessible.” This was quite a bold statement to make back in 2012, when Alban Denoyel and his partners launched Sketchfab, a groundbreaking web-based 3D player and platform for publishing and finding 3D content. “We thought consumerization of 3D capture technologies and mass market adoption of VR and AR devices were 12 months away. It was actually 10 years away.”
The team managed to hold on joining renowned seed accelerator TechStars, raising more than 9 M$ from leading venture capital firms, developing a worldwide community of 3D models creators, and monetizing their contents through an online store while waiting for the market to mature.
Fast forward to 2021: “Today, with easier creation tools such as Minecraft or Tilt Brush, and 3D capture coming to our smartphones, everyone is becoming a 3D creator.” And Sketchfab is many steps ahead. “We now have 2M+ monthly downloads, 3M+ 3D models, 6M+ registered users, 8M+ unique visitors every month, and 2B+ total page views. Our technology is integrated with every major 3D creation tool and publishing platform, and is compatible across every browser, operating system, desktop and mobile. We partner with Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft.”
E-commerce is proving instrumental in Sketchfab’s success. “Thanks to 3D visualization, you don’t need to go through multiple different photo angles of a product to get a sense of how it looks in real life. It’s a major selling point!” No wonder Sketchfab now has clients such as Balenciaga, Porsche, and the MoMA.
It took 8 years for Sketchfab to get their first profitable month. And they never went backwards ever since – so much so Epic Games recently acquired the brand. The new venture will help Sketchfab getting closer to fulfilling their original purpose. “We are reducing our store fees to 12%, effective immediately. We are also making all the Plus plan features free, which means more uploads and larger file size at no cost. This is our way to contribute to building the Metaverse and to enable creators to take their work even further.”
Find out more:
sketchfab.com
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