Holotch

Market position

Holotch operates in the volumetric video and hologram streaming segment, a field the company describes as having only a few players worldwide able to stream holograms in real time. It cites market forecasts projecting the hologram-related market to grow at a 32.8% CAGR and reach roughly 600 billion yen by 2025, with applications in meetings, medicine, training and education as well as consumer communication and entertainment.

Holotch contrasts its approach with hologram communication systems from Google and Cisco that rely on customized hardware, stating that it has packaged its system to work with ready-to-use hardware and to resemble conventional video communication services. It also notes that only a handful of companies worldwide provide real-time hologram streaming technology, and that it develops the entire capture-to-distribution pipeline internally while building a supporting patent portfolio.

Technology

The company develops the full hologram pipeline from capture through real-time distribution. Demonstrations used depth cameras — including a two-camera setup for full-body volumetric capture — with playback on AR glasses such as Magic Leap 1 and on smartphones. The company frames its work as foundational technology and patents for volumetric video, anticipating AR glasses becoming mainstream consumer devices.

Go-to-market

Enterprises and consumers across entertainment, creator, streaming, XR and metaverse segments; cited use cases include remote meetings as an alternative to travel, medicine, training and education, and AR delivery of athletes and artists to audiences at sports and live events.

Geography

Headquartered in Sumida-ku, Tokyo, Japan, with international engagement through the US accelerator Techstars, the Orange Fab Asia program run by French operator Orange, and the JETRO-sponsored Beyond JAPAN program.

History

The company was incorporated in Tokyo in August 2019 and was selected for the Tokyo XR Startups pre-program in October 2019. It raised approximately 25 million yen in March 2020 from Skyland Ventures and three individual investors. In July 2021 it announced graduation from the Techstars accelerator alongside a seed financing that brought cumulative funding to USD 800,000, with participation from 01Booster, LAUNCHPAD FUND, VenturePort, Techstars and angel investors. In October 2021 it was selected for Orange Fab Asia, the startup program of French telecom operator Orange, and in January 2022 it opened its partner program to general applicants and launched a tool for streaming holograms into metaverse environments. In 2023 it participated in the JETRO-sponsored Beyond JAPAN program.