// startup autopsy

13th Lab

AR pioneers absorbed before the market arrived

timingAcqui-hire

Fatal mistake: Built cutting-edge AR tech too early for consumer mobile gaming adoption, leaving the company reliant on acqui-hire as the only viable exit.

Founded	2010
Closed	2014
Country	Sweden
Sector	Gaming

50%

Key Events Timeline

2010-01-01

FOUNDING

13th Lab founded in Sweden to develop augmented reality and computer vision technology for mobile platforms.

2012-06-01

FUNDING

Raised $0.7M in seed funding to advance AR mobile gaming technology development.

2013-09-01

PRODUCT LAUNCH

Released PointCloud SDK, an AR development toolkit for mobile developers, gaining technical recognition.

2014-03-01

SHUTDOWN

Facebook acqui-hired 13th Lab, ending the independent company to integrate AR expertise into Facebook's mobile initiatives.

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13th Lab, a Swedish gaming startup specializing in augmented reality and computer vision technology for mobile gaming, failed to achieve sustainable growth despite early technical promise. Founded with limited ...

initial funding of $0.7 million, the startup struggled to scale its operations and product offerings. The fundamental constraint was inadequate capital—the $0.7M seed funding proved insufficient to de

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€1.3M

Peak valuation

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13th Lab raised €0.7M before built cutting-edge ar tech too early for consumer mobile gaming adoption, leaving the company reliant on acqui-hire as the only viable exit. ended it. See the documented cause, verified lesson and all failure signals.

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Key Events Timeline

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