A local startup is using its augmented reality app to invite users to a digital scavenger hunt with very real prizes – including money virtually “hidden” around downtown San Diego.
On March 4, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the “Hidden Cash San Diego” scavenger hunt will take place around points of interest across downtown. The event is the brainchild of Dmitry Shapiro, founder of the San Diego startup, GoMeta, Inc., and creator of the augmented reality app, Metaverse.
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The app, much like Pokemon Go, is built to allow users to interact with its augmented reality universe. Users can create games and other “experiences,” drop them onto a map of the real world and, using their smartphone as a guide, physically walk up to those experiences and interact with them.
Since the company was founded in September 2016, it has hosted a few hype-inducing stunts around Southern California, including scavenger hunts in San Diego and Los Angeles in late October 2016.
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The March 4 hunt, Shapiro said, is another one of those big events, meant to get people to play his company’s app while exploring San Diego for a chance to win money and freebies from local businesses. He said, so far, about 1,500 people have RSVP’d for the event.
“Participants will go on a quest, as we call it, via the app,” explained Shapiro. “They get a map and walk to get closer to clues, and the augmented reality interacts with them. They will encounter 10 to 15 experiences and the last one [will lead to] a prize.”
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GoMeta, Inc., was founded in September 2016. On Halloween, the company held its “Augmented Halloween” event in Los Angeles and San Diego, again giving away cash.
In November 2016, the startup landed $2 million in seed money from several big names including former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, former Myspace CEO Michael Jones, Greylock Partners and Moonshot Capital.
Source: NBC San Diego