Metaverse is the future of IT industry: CyberCubes CEO

We are small, but grand and ambitious, declares Roopesh Chinni, the founder of CyberCubes SolWutions, and former CEO/co-founder of Fineraspects Digi Private Limited, a young booming startup from Visakhapatnam yearning to make some difference in the world of augmented reality and virtual reality.

With disruptive technologies bringing about a sea-change, Roopesh and his team of youngsters from Visakhapatnam are confident of launching successful software projects with clear business goals and a mission to bring in design excellence in the service of prospective clients. He has been obsessed with balancing these forces for a few years and thinks his team is beginning to understand how to put it all together.

Roopesh who is a proven hand in business networking and management skills in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune, Bhubaneshwar and many other cities as a student entrepreneur during his B.Tech studentship in the city, told Bizz Buzz in an exclusive interview that there is a bright future for growth in Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), which he says is quite fascinating and promising for many techies and entrepreneurs

The total size of India's AR/VR industry in 2020 was $1.83 bn and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 38% by 2027. When it comes to AR content creation on Metaverse, CyberCubes AR plays a major role in creating AR experiences with simple drag and drop interface. It helps users to develop more immersive, interactive, and collaborative AR experiences

We have come a long way since we started CyberCubes with four of my bench-mates in 2012 during our talks on technology in the college which subsequently motivated us to generate revenue from blogging to making websites for clients based in Visakhapatnam. Fortunately, through hard work and luck we were able to spread our clientele to all over the world

It has been a long journey for you since you formed CyberCubes as an engineering student with friends to do something different? What is the progress so far?

We have come a long way since we started CyberCubes with four of my bench-mates in 2012 during our talks on technology in the college which subsequently motivated us to generate revenue from blogging to making websites for clients based in Visakhapatnam. Fortunately, through hard work and luck we were able to spread our clientele to all over the world.

How is the future for AR and VR?

Everybody knows Metaverse is the future of the IT industry, the total size of India's AR/VR industry in 2020 was $1.83 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 38 per cent by 2027. When it comes to AR content creation on Metaverse, CyberCubes AR plays a major role in creating AR experiences with simple drag and drop interface. It helps users to develop more immersive, interactive, and collaborative AR experiences.

Do you think Andhra Pradesh has the right ecosystem to encourage startups? What is required to improve the innovation culture?

Andhra Pradesh has the resources and the right platform which can attract industrial CSR for the Nine-Jewel (Navaratnalu) scheme of the government of Andhra Pradesh, for empowerment of the poorer sections. A vibrant startup ecosystem by students completing graduation is very critical for successful delivery mechanisms of the welfare schemes. Further, the Visakhapatnam Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) and Chennai Bangalore Industrial Corridor (CBIC) will throw up new opportunities for industrial development and investments in the region. This will certainly boost the ecosystem for encouraging IT-related start-ups.

Further, the industrial and export policy, electronics and IT policy have been developed competitively to attract strategic investments in these sectors which can play a huge role in serving opportunities to startups from corporate innovation requirements. The industry land policy of the State is set to accelerate the industrial ecosystem with a booster dose to technology transfers. This could play the role of a catalyst for the startup ecosystem.

The proposed high-end skill university coming up in Visakhapatnam is expected to provide an opportunity to improve skilled resources for an optimal running of startups in the State. We as an AR/VR startup need skilled manpower like Unity Game Developers, Unreal Engine Developers and 2D/3D/Multimedia Artists, In reality even after spending years we are still finding it difficult to find the local talent in these domains.

Have you reached the beta stage?

Now, we are at the stage of building a better and final version of the CyberCubes AR Engine. We are being incubated at the Nasscom Centre of Excellence IoT (Internet of Things)/AI (Artificial Intelligence) and DeepTech Startups, we reached the final round of Chunauti 1.0 by Software Technology Parks of India. STPI-Mohali offered us to utilise the AR/VR laboratory during Chunathi 2.0 qualifiers, we are now also part of the Jio Glass Developer Program for building up AR application for Jio Glass, Jio Glasses are expected to be released this summer.

How are you mobilising funds to meet your requirements?

We started reinvesting the revenue to our AR projects and research works, which we used to generate from our clients, for whom we deliver multiple IT-related services, some of our important clients in India are Asian Paints, MSME Technology Center and Sarada Peetham.

Is there anything you suggest for better hand-holding of startups going by a high incidence of premature death of startups at the ideation stage?

Special price discounts for startups to access state industrial resources is the need of the hour. There should be grants for developing solutions for the State (a long-term integrated plan may be devised which will be useful for the ideations). This grant pooling can be another attraction for industrial CSR and global participation from philanthropic establishments as well as venture capital (VC) firms. More cohorts will also lead to ideation-based funding and handholding from mentors.

Since you will take some more time to go commercial, how do you thrive to meet your daily expenses?

Expected market release of CyberCubes AR is 2024, Our daily expenses and resource management is carried out by getting a few government projects related to IT and under CyberCubes marketplaces, we are operating local services like Vizag Delivery-Local Marketplace App and & Night Food Delivery Service currently, we are in talks with an US-based cybersecurity firm-TSARO Labs and Pune-based angel investor firm for further funding to our CyberCubes AR venture-CyberCubes with the mission to take a million small businesses online. Starting in 2012, we have built a company on the foundation of customer delight, transparency, and professionalism as the young startup from the City of Visakhapatnam. We want to continue our good work with doubled vigour to help customers leverage the online medium and add a new customer to their business.

What is your immediate thrust area?

We are looking for non-dilutive capital funding from any local investors. We are also looking forward to collaborate with any individuals/businesses who want to create AR/VR experiential zones in Visakhapatnam in recognition of our service since 2016 to the local real estate agencies by helping them to leverage the usage of AR/VR to visualize their buildings, plots, interiors, exteriors, walk through and plans, few of our real estate clients are Building Blocks Group, SDPL Projects and Vizag Profiles Group-Green City Homes.