With Disrupt NY 2015 only a month away, we thought it’d be fun to look back at the winner of the Disrupt NY 2014 Hackathon to see what they’ve been up to in the last year. As you may recall, the virtual reality app Vrban took home the grand prize.
So, where is last year’s Hackathon winner now?
Columbia University roommates Angel Say and Russell Varriale built Vrban at the Disrupt NY Hackathon last year and have been tweaking and perfecting the model ever since.
Vrban wanted to allow users to explore urban environments using the Oculus Rift. The duo drew its inspiration from a newly erected building on the Columbia campus which obstructed the campus observatory’s view of the stars. To avoid this in the future, Vrban wanted to help architects visualize their designs in 3D virtual reality, so they could see what their buildings would look like in the surrounding area before they started to build them.
Now called InsiteVR, the company is part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2015 Class, where it raised a $120,000 seed round and presented its technology on Demo Day in March. The founders already have six contracts in place with architecture firms, branding agencies and an event production company, and their model looks simple enough to appeal to both professionals and amateurs alike.
So will your great idea will be revealed at this year’s Hackathon? We’ve released another batch of tickets for developers and engineers, so grab them quickly! The last round of tickets was gone in 24 hours.
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