Layar is the largest open augmented reality platform for mobile with over thousands of developers creating over 2000 layers.

Layar aims to bring impactful augmented reality experiences into people’s everyday life.

The story of Layar is that of a dream for many. Founded in June 2009, the company quickly grew to become a global player in mobile augmented reality. With headquarters in Amsterdam and additional offices in the United States and the Ukraine, Layar currently has a team of over 60 employees.

The Layar platform has over 1 million active users of the augmented reality content called layers. These layers are developed by thousands of independent developers, agencies and brands. A lot of young, highly educated enthusiastic people with a diverse cultural background work at Layar. These are software engineers, usability experts, concepters, testers, marketeers, designers, product managers and support engineers.
When you enter the office, you immediately feel the startup atmosphere straight from Silicon Valley. In short, Layar has no hierarchy, glass houses or backroom politics, but instead is a company where people work together and care about each other.

People work in several large open spaces, meeting rooms have glass walls and everybody has lunch together each day. All employees are issued a Macbook and all tools, documents and code live in the cloud. Sorry, no copy machine! But don’t underestimate the level of professionalism. The Layar platform is continuously being expanded and updated based on insights, technology developments, feedback from users and data analysis. Product managers guard the roadmap and priorities. Software is being developed according to agile development principles. Everything is tested on several operating systems and mobile devices before being shared with partners for beta testing.

As mobile devices get increasingly powerful and sensors improve each year, the R&D team is always busy developing prototypes to test new technologies. It won’t be long before 3D, video and image recognition are commonplace.
Besides working hard there is also room for serious partying. No stuffy get-togethers, but instead big BBQ’s, bowling, skiing and other excuses to have a beer or open a bottle of wine. Not everyday though.

Layar recently secured a round of financing led by Intel Capital of €10 million. The World Economic Forum and Time Magazine also announced Layar as Technology Pioneer of 2011.