Escher Reality

Escher Reality was an augmented reality and computer vision startup founded in 2016 by Ross Finman (CEO) and Diana Hu (CTO), with roots in the MIT Sandbox program. It built cloud backend services for cross-platform, persistent, multi-user mobile AR — shared experiences that neither Apple ARKit nor Google ARCore offered at the time — letting multiple users interact with the same virtual objects anchored to the real world. The company raised roughly $3 million and was based in Sunnyvale, California. In February 2018 Escher Reality was acquired by Niantic (creator of Pokemon GO); its team and technology were folded into the Niantic Real World Platform (now Lightship), and the standalone company and its developer/SDK offering were discontinued. This API Evangelist profile is retained as a historical record; there is no independent, active API or developer surface to enrich.

Escher Reality is profiled on the APIs.io network. Tagged areas include Company, Augmented Reality, Computer-Vision, Mobile, and Gaming.

📡 Source on GitHub
5.0/100 minimal ▬ flat Agent 0/100 human only Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-09-08 · rubric v0.20.0
0 APIs
CompanyAugmented RealityComputer-VisionMobileGamingSDKAcquiredDefunct

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-09-08 · rubric v0.20.0
Composite quality — 5.0/100 · minimal
Contract Quality 0.0 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 0.0 / 20
Access Clarity 0.0 / 20
Operational Transparency 0.0 / 13
Contract Governance 0.0 / 12
Discoverability 5.0 / 10
Agent readiness — 0/100 · human only
Machine-Readable Contract 0 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 0 / 10
Documented Reversibility 0 / 6
MCP Server 0 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 0 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 0 / 7
Typed Event Surface 0 / 6
Agent Skills 0 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3
A2A Agent Card 0 / 8
Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4
Delegated User Identity 0 / 6
Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5
Registration Without a Human 0 / 6
Agentic Commerce Well-Known Document 0 / 5
Create-or-Update Ergonomics could not be measured. We hold no machine-readable contract for this provider to read, so there is nothing to measure a write surface against. Excluded rather than scored zero: never-measured and measured-empty are different facts. Publishing an OpenAPI is what makes this facet — and several others — scorable at all.
Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. Every facet and dimension name above is a link: it opens that measurement's own page — what it means, the exact checks that feed it, how the whole catalog distributes on it, and the providers at the top of it. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/escher-reality: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Submit an artifact on GitHub — free → Manage your own listing — the Influence plan, $499/mo →

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: escher-reality
deliveryModel:
  model: unknown
  open_source: false
  commercial: false
  callable_host: false
  label: Delivery model not determined — needs a product licence on record
  confidence: low
  source:
  - none
  generated: '2026-08-28'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Unknown
  confidence: low
  source: []
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/escher-reality.png
name: Escher Reality
description: Escher Reality was an augmented reality and computer vision startup founded in 2016 by Ross Finman (CEO) and
  Diana Hu (CTO), with roots in the MIT Sandbox program. It built cloud backend services for cross-platform, persistent, multi-user
  mobile AR — shared experiences that neither Apple ARKit nor Google ARCore offered at the time — letting multiple users interact
  with the same virtual objects anchored to the real world. The company raised roughly $3 million and was based in Sunnyvale,
  California. In February 2018 Escher Reality was acquired by Niantic (creator of Pokemon GO); its team and technology were
  folded into the Niantic Real World Platform (now Lightship), and the standalone company and its developer/SDK offering were
  discontinued. This API Evangelist profile is retained as a historical record; there is no independent, active API or developer
  surface to enrich.
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/escher-reality/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
x-type: company
x-source: vc-portfolio
x-backed-by:
- uncork-capital
x-tier: stub
x-tier-reason: portfolio-lead
x-status: acquired
x-acquired-by: niantic
x-acquired-date: '2018-02-01'
specificationVersion: '0.23'
created: '2026-07-17'
modified: '2026-07-19'
tags:
- Company
- Augmented Reality
- Computer-Vision
- Mobile
- Gaming
- SDK
- Acquired
- Defunct
tags_raw:
- Company
- Augmented Reality
- Computer Vision
- Mobile
- Gaming
- SDK
- Acquired
- Defunct
apis: []
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com
- FN: APIs.json
  email: info@apis.io
x-enrichment:
  date: '2026-07-19'
  status: backfilled
  pass: local-v1
  note: backfilled from .gitignore signal + verified work evidence

Work with this as data

Every provider here is available over the APIs.io API and to AI agents over MCP.

MCP server

One button, every client — Claude, Cursor, VS Code and the rest.

https://apis.io/mcp

Tools for providers

9 MCP tools reach this
  • find_providersBrowse and filter every provider in the catalog.
  • get_provider_artifactsEvery artifact this provider publishes, grouped by type.
  • get_provider_operationsEvery operation across all of their OpenAPIs — one call instead of parsing every spec.
  • get_provider_toolsEvery MCP tool they ship, with the operation each wraps.
  • get_provider_evidenceHow each part of their score was established. Free — the basis for a claim should not sit behind it.
  • get_provider_ratingPRO — composite, band, trend and facet scores.
  • apis_io_searchSTART HERE — APIs, providers and tags for one query, each with its total.
  • resolveTurn a domain, URL or GitHub org into the provider it belongs to.
  • find_cohortsEvery scored population of providers in the catalog.
All 92 tools →

Call it yourself

curl for this page
This provider 
curl "https://apis.io/api/v1/providers/escher-reality"
All providers 
curl "https://apis.io/api/v1/providers?limit=25"
Every operation they expose 
curl "https://apis.io/api/v1/providers/escher-reality/operations?limit=25"
How their score was established 
curl "https://apis.io/api/v1/providers/escher-reality/evidence"

Discovery needs no key. Ratings and market analysis are Pro.

Get an API key

Free tier, no form to fill in. Signing in shares your email address with us — we store it to create your key and to recognise you if you sign in with another provider. See our Privacy Policy and Terms.

GitHub Google LinkedIn

A second provider on the same verified email joins the account you already have.