The OpenFrame app allows homeowners and real-estate agents to create an immersive 3D video tours of... [+] their homes in minutes, with just their iPhones and the Giroptic iO 360-degree camera. Real estate technology (PropTech) startup OpenFrame announced on Wednesday that it acquired the asset of the now-defunct Giroptic, a pioneer of the 360-degree camera industry. “We believe that through our innovative approach we will be able to drive mass adoption of video tours across the real estate industry – from luxury properties to inexpensive short-term rentals," said Etienne Leroy, Chief Product Officer at OpenFrame. "That's why the acquisition of Giroptic, which was our former supplier, was a strategic imperative to offer our customers the easiest, simplest and fastest way to create virtual video tours at an affordable price.” Last year, Giroptic made a name for itself after partnering with social media giant Facebook which gave every one of the 4,400 attendees of its f8 developer conference a 360-degree camera which normally retails for $250. A few months later, the French startup ran out of funding and declared bankruptcy earlier this year. "Buying Giroptic gives us access to the camera firmware that we have already modified to enable high-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging for improved photo quality. We also plan to add to the OpenFrame app some of Giroptic's features that were in development including 360-degree video calling, 3D modeling, and automatic floor plan," added Leroy. 3D home tours are disrupting the real-estate market The OpenFrame app allows homeowners and real-estate agents to create immersive 3D video tours of their homes in minutes, with just their iPhones and the Giroptic iO 360-degree camera. "You just need to take a single picture of every room you want to show and the app does the rest," said Leroy. The Boston-based startup launched just 6 months ago at TechStars' Demo day and targets exclusively - at least for now - realtors, quickly growing to $100,000 in annual recurring revenue (ARR), with Coldwell Banker agents representing about half of its total customer base. "We have customers in 38 out of the 50 states, from large franchises to mom & pop real-estate agencies, and from rentals to luxury homes, and 85% of them told us that after just a month of use, OpenFrame helped them win more listings and/or sell a property faster," added Leroy. Based on a recent Coldwell Banker survey, 84% of home buyers would like to see a video tour of a home prior to visiting the prospective property. Moreover, listings with a video tour receive 403% more inquiries from prospective buyers than those that don’t have a video tour. Yet OpenFrame found that only 9% of agents use video for every property listing, while 75% of agents cited the added cost and time of creating a video tour as a barrier to creating video tours for every listing. “There is a real market need for simplicity and affordability”, said Sean McGrail, OpenFrame's Chief Revenue Officer. “Our competitors in the space [like Matterport] tend to over-engineer the solution with layers of complexity, which adds to the cost, and ultimately renders the technology useless for the average real estate agent. The Giroptic camera hits the sweet spot of affordability, ease of use, quality imagery and simplicity. This acquisition gives us an unfair competitive advantage and the ability to grab significant market share.” Pricing for OpenFrame starts at $24 per month or $230 per year and includes one Giroptic camera. Atherton Research's Take We believe that 3D and virtual reality (VR) home tours are about to disrupt the real-estate market. The majority of first-time home buyers are now Millennials who consider 3D and VR as being as important as open houses. Moreover, a large portion of potential buyers and renters are searching properties from a distance making immersive and realistic virtual home tours indispensable in their search.
Boston based technology company OpenFrame has purchased 360-degree camera manufacturer Giroptic to adapt its technology for virtual home tours . Previously a supplier to OpenFrame , Giroptic declared bankruptcy in 2017 . The proptech firm aims to integrate the virtual camera 's capabilities within the mobile app . Along with estate agents having the ability to create interactive video tours of properties quickly , features such as 360-degree house calling , 3D modelling , and automatic floorplanning could be under development . More than 80 % of home buyers are interested in seeing video tours before visiting properties , according to estate agent Coldwell Banker .