Cognitive 3D
Vancouver, CA Β· Founded 2015 Β· 24 employees on LinkedIn Β· 8 known investors
Find your way into Cognitive 3D
22 people in our graph share verified history with the Cognitive 3D team β schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.
Cognitive3D provides an analytics platform for XR (VR/AR) applications, capturing user behavior, app activity, and device inputs to let teams replay and analyze sessions in full 3D. It offers session records, participant profiles, 3D replays with gaze and movement visualization, and data export/integration for teams building and evaluating XR experiences.
Also known as Cognitive VR Β· Cognitive3D
Founders & leadership
Cognitive 3D was founded in 2015 by Tony Bevilacqua.
Investors Β· 8
Also in the syndicate Β· 1
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Cognitive3D develops an analytics platform for extended reality (XR) applications. Its software development kits, including plugins for Unity and Unreal, instrument VR, AR and mixed reality apps to record scenes, sessions, objects, goals, feedback and performance data, alongside headset, controller input, gaze, device and sensor signals. The company states that its platform captures over 3,000 data points per minute of XR activity.
The product spans three areas: capturing a complete record of what happens inside an XR application; reviewing individual behaviour through session records, participant profiles, tags, filters, exports, MCP Server access and full 3D session replay with playback controls; and aggregate analysis of usage, comfort and application-performance trends via standard and custom dashboards, plus visualization of navigation, attention and goal completion across sessions. The company describes the aggregate layer as producing exact, quantitative results across large numbers of sessions, complementing the qualitative 3D visualization approach it started with.
Applications described by the company include training and simulation (including after-action review), consumer and market research, architecture/engineering/construction, large product design such as aircraft and vehicles, digital twins, games and entertainment, and academic research covering eye tracking, biometrics such as galvanic skin response, and raw behavioural data.
Founding story
Tony Bevilacqua founded the company in late 2015 as Cognitive VR, after selling a first company that worked on revenue optimization with an analytics-heavy backend and served the game space. Early exposure to the Oculus DK1 and DK2 development kits led him to the idea of treating the head-mounted display as a vehicle for data collection on human behaviour and performance in 3D environments.
Business model
Cognitive3D sells access to a hosted XR analytics platform that developers integrate via SDKs, offering a free entry tier alongside paid usage; a 2022 report described the offering as free at that time, and the company's site promotes a free start plus a sales-led demo path.
Software platform accessed by developers and enterprises, with a freemium entry point (free sign-up and a limited-user free plugin tier) and a demo/contact-sales motion for larger deployments.
Traction
The company's site reports more than 1,400 companies worldwide using the platform, over 27 million XR sessions captured for playback and more than 36 million goals evaluated. About 35 academic institutions used the platform as of mid-2023. Published case studies include a point-of-care blood testing VR training pilot with TAFE NSW, NSW Health Pathology and Werfen; a Purdue University study on eye fixations and electrodermal activity during VR embodiment; vocational training work with Accenture; and a VR merchandising study conducted with Accenture, Qualcomm and InContext Solutions for Kellogg's that the company associates with an 18 percent lift in brand sales during testing.
Latest developments
Recent platform positioning emphasizes three pillars β tracking XR experiences, exploring individual behaviour and analyzing aggregate insights β including MCP Server access and preparation of aggregate XR data for dashboards, reporting and AI analysis. The company has also published a healthcare training case study on a point-of-care blood testing VR pilot with TAFE NSW, NSW Health Pathology and Werfen.
βΈFull profile β market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
The company positions itself in the emerging spatial analytics category for immersive applications, arguing that conventional 2D mobile and web analytics tools do not capture XR interaction; its lead seed investor described it as positioned to lead this new category. Its website cites more than 1,400 companies using the platform and over 27 million XR sessions analyzed.
Full 3D session replay with spatial context β user movement, gaze and attention β rather than 2D event dashboards, combined with device-level context, eye-tracking and biometric capture, aggregate goal and attention analysis, industry benchmark work on comfort, presence and performance, and user-controlled do-not-track privacy options.
Technology
Instrumentation SDKs for game engines that stream XR telemetry β application events, objects, goals, performance data, headset and controller inputs, gaze and eye tracking, and biometric/sensor data such as galvanic skin response β into a backend that reconstructs sessions for 3D replay and aggregate analysis. The platform exposes exports, dashboards and MCP Server access for connecting XR data to AI systems, and includes a do-not-track privacy framework letting users opt out of specific data collection.
Go-to-market
Self-serve free sign-up and SDK distribution for Unity and Unreal developers, combined with enterprise sales supported by demos, case studies, webinars and podcast appearances by the founder, plus partnerships such as the one with Innoactive for scaling enterprise VR training. The company has also presented at industry events including Augmented World Expo, SVVR and VRLA.
Enterprises and developers building XR applications, concentrated in training and simulation, consumer and market research, CPG and retail, architecture/engineering/construction, product and vehicle/aircraft design, games and entertainment, and roughly 35 academic research institutions across the United States, Canada and Europe.
Geography
Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with customers and academic research users across the United States, Canada and Europe.
History
Founded in 2015 in Vancouver as Cognitive VR, the company hired its first employees and shipped its first product in 2016, initially serving game developers and entertainment companies. By early 2017 it had pivoted to enterprise use cases centred on consumer research and training and simulation, and it has focused on enterprise categories since. In 2022 it raised a $2.5 million seed round led by Konvoy Ventures, with Jim Preston of Electronic Arts and Konvoy principal Taylor Hurst joining the board, and planned to grow from nine to 18 employees.
Risks & controversies
The platform collects detailed behavioural, gaze and biometric data from headset users, making data privacy and ownership a recurring theme in the founder's public discussions; the company addresses this with a do-not-track framework and a stated privacy policy. Its growth is tied to enterprise adoption of XR, and as of 2022 the product was offered free, leaving monetization at an early stage.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources β announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed β not independently audited.
Timeline Β· 5
launches, deals, and filingsThe company raised a $2.5 million seed round led by Konvoy Ventures with participation from Space Capital's Space Venture Capital Investing Fund and Boost VC, and said it planned to double headcount from nine to 18 employees over 18 months. The company did not disclose when the round closed.
$2.5M source β
Jim Preston, lead technical producer at Electronic Arts, and Konvoy principal Taylor Hurst joined Cognitive3D's board in connection with the seed round.
A joint webinar with Innoactive announced a partnership enabling enterprises to use analytics to scale VR training.
The company hired its first employees and released its first product to market in 2016, initially adopted by game developers and entertainment companies before an enterprise pivot in early 2017.
Tony Bevilacqua founded the company in late 2015 under the name Cognitive VR after selling his previous mobile/revenue-optimization analytics company.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
βΈResearch sources Β· 8
primary sources listed
- Cognitive 3Dcognitive3d.com Β· web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Cognitive 3D do?
- Cognitive3D is a Vancouver-based spatial analytics platform that records and replays user behaviour inside VR, AR and MR applications.
- Who founded Cognitive 3D?
- Cognitive 3D was founded by Tony Bevilacqua in 2015.
- Who are Cognitive 3D's investors?
- Cognitive 3D's investors include Anorak Ventures, Hartmann Capital, Konvoy Ventures, BDC Capital Corporation, R/GA Ventures, Space Capital, Super Ventures.
- Where is Cognitive 3D headquartered?
- Cognitive 3D is headquartered in Vancouver, CA.