#Interview
AVES Reality creates “digital, three-dimensional replicas and street maps of entire cities” from space images. Matterwave Ventures, XISTA Science Ventures and most recently invested 2.7 million euros in the startup from Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
The DeepTech startup Hail Reality from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, founded in 2022 by Florian Albert, Severin Knebel and Matthias Heger, develops “AI-based 3D digital twins”. Specifically, it is about “computer graphics algorithms that can be used to automatically and highly precisely reconstruct the real world in 3D.”
The Munich-based DeepTech investor Matterwave Ventures, XISTA Science Ventures, xdeck and Lightfield Equity as well as the existing investors Bayern Kapital and Fraunhofer Technologie-Transfer Fonds (FTTF) recently invested 2.7 million euros in the young company.
In an interview with deutsche-startups.de, founder Florian Albert speaks in detail about the state of affairs at AVES Reality.
How would you explain AVES Reality to your grandmother?
We create digital, three-dimensional replicas and street maps of entire cities from space images in order to simulate and test AI-controlled future technologies such as self-driving cars in a virtual, safe environment.
Was this your concept from the beginning?
To be honest, we are still largely pursuing the same vision, even if the focus has sharpened significantly over time. We didn’t have a real 180-degree pivot or anything like that.
How has AVES Reality developed since it was founded?
Starting from the EXIST start-up grant in 2021/22 with three founders, we now have 12 employees spread across two offices in Germany and Bulgaria. Customer proximity and paying customers have always been important to us, which is why we managed to achieve our first sales directly in 2022. We just finished last year with a high six-figure annual turnover.
Most recently you were able to collect millions. How did you get in touch with your investors?
Network, network, network. Similar to customers, maintaining contacts and building networks in the world of investors has also been a central topic for us since the company was founded. We use everything from the usual business plan competitions at the beginning to accelerator programs in the first few years to trade fairs like Slush or Vivatech today to constantly expand our contacts.
Please take a look back: What really went wrong in the last few years?
Of course, we always had issues that didn’t go as planned, but we always tried to learn something from them. One such topic, for example, was one or two hirings that just didn’t quite fit and we had to learn to go our separate ways again. Or there was a calculation error in the first financial model that only made us realize two months less runway late. Luckily we haven’t had any existential fuck-ups so far.
And where have you done everything right so far?
Poah, that’s a broad term. We have certainly never done “everything” right. But I think we have always done well to look at things from different perspectives and, when in doubt, to discuss them constructively and adjust plans instead of stubbornly continuing to run.
What general tip would you give other founders?
Without your team it won’t work, always have good people around you!
Where will AVES Reality be in a year?
One year closer to our vision of building the best 3D digital twin platform for physical AI simulation.
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