PORTL Hologram raises $3M to put a hologram machine in every home

There&#x27;s no such thing as holograms. Not until we discover new physics. These are Pepper&#x27;s Ghost, a simple lighting trick [0].<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Pepper%27s_ghost" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Pepper%27s_ghost</a>

<i>The projector can transmit images any time of the day or night</i><p>Is there some limitation of image recording and transmission technology that I&#x27;m not aware of that this needs to be called out?

It sounds like they have an outsized amount of bookings compared to recognized revenue:<p><pre><code> The company has sold a hundred devices and already delivered several dozen to shopping malls, airports and movie theater lobbies. “We’ve manufactured and delivered several dozen,” Nussbaum said. </code></pre> I wonder what their challenge has been in recognizing that revenue. If it’s a matter of delivery capacity, R&amp;D, or something else.<p>At $60,000, it feels a little steep to me personally, but I would more than happily pay for the spectacle — like a movie theatre ticket price.<p>Besides that, I’ve always thought volumetric displays would be a good way to visualize information. If the display is large enough, it’s a much better way to view certain datasets. Combined with certain gesture recognition technologies, this really does feel like technology that could be welcome in conference rooms.<p>From a home entertainment, this reminds me of DVDs with multiple angles. Although it never was popular at the time, I think that it’d be awesome to watch a football game or play age of empires on such a display.

Hmm, I don&#x27;t understand why they did a $3M round. If they&#x27;ve already sold a hundred at $60k, that&#x27;s $6M in revenue. I feel like they&#x27;d want to raise a lot more, or try to remain profitable. The $3M seems like they&#x27;re taking on dilution (and expectations) for an relatively low amount of money, when their product is $60k and has a fair amount of traction.

This is a $60K 4K display... I&#x27;m missing what makes it revolutionary?!?

So we now have the Telehuman from Silicon Valley?<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;m.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=9YOEEpWAXgU" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;m.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=9YOEEpWAXgU</a><p>I wonder if the audio is working.

I automatically distrust this just from the name. I know what holograms are and that is not it.<p>It looks like it&#x27;s just a full body video conference with a blank screen behind the person.

I think the only way this could succeed would be by doubling as a good TV that can rotate 90 degrees with no hassle. How else do you convince people to set aside a space in the hoe for the occasional sales rep to talk to you.

fun with ambiguity: the title reads as if this company is literally using the 3 million to put the holograms in every home. i was unaware that holograms were commodity hardware. at 7.5 billion people, assume 4 people per household, that is 1.8 billion hologram devices. this puts the unit price at about a third of a penny. i’ll take 3.

What is the advantage of this over just an LCD screen? Is it just that the edges of the box move when the viewer does?

&quot;In every home&quot; - sure, if you somehow involve the adult industry.

Package up a gimmick in a decent looking kiosk and pitch the “where won’t this work!?” dream. You’ll capture enough imagination in pitch meetings to raise a few mil. You’ll put together a team and manufacture your first batch, spending all of your first raise in the process. A few big name clients will pop-up and show interest, enough to go back to your investors for a just a bit more money to keep going. Big name clients do some one off deals, everyone is interested but if it could just do X or Y, you’ll chase custom requests and eventually arrive at the crossroads of becoming an event based marketing agency or riding a slowly fading business into the ground as the kiosks age and no new clients sign up after the hype is over.<p>Whether it’s touch screen mirrors, digital art club screens, cell phone charging kiosks, photo booths, sports training kiosks, screens on water faucets, it’s inevitably the same story arch.<p>The only ones I’ve seen that make money are those that pivot into high-ticket custom events which then you’re not a scalable startup anymore but an agency, or you barely get your investors bailed out by selling some backend tech you developed for stock in another company.