Party girl turned digital entrepreneur Paris Hilton is putting on her consultant and investor hat for Proto Inc., the full-body hologram company that can use off-the-shelf capture to beam a strikingly realistic, three-dimensional, live or canned remote presence to the company’s devices on the other end, Proto said in a release.
"We are always looking for ways to support innovative and cutting-edge technology, which is why I’m thrilled 11:11 Media has jumped in to invest in Proto,” Hilton said in a statement, referring to her recently launched company. “Having the hologram at our inaugural 11:11 Summit was a massive hit with attendees and you can just imagine how fun it will be to have it pop up all over the world.”
Hilton also “will act as a creative consultant with a special emphasis on the company’s future in the Metaverse and Web3,” the company said.
Hilton joins a long list of prominent Proto investors, including long-time venture capitalist Tim Draper, musician/entrepreneur Sean Combs, retired baseball star Albert Pujols, former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch, and comedian/TV host Howie Mandel, along with VCs such as True Capital and Christie’s Ventures. Companies using the technology include Netflix
Paris Hilton hologram
Hilton first used a Proto publicly at her November party on the Santa Monica Pier in the Los Angeles area, celebrating the launch of her 11:11 Media company, and at a separate 11:11 Summit of various prominent personalities in media, branding, art, music, gaming and other sectors.
That spotlight came about a week after inventor/CEO David Nussbaum showcased the device onstage with Mandel at the Infinity Festival in Hollywood.
As Nussbaum and Mandel demonstrated, with a good-quality but widely available webcam, computer and Internet connection, the system was able to capture full-body video and audio, and send it in real time to an audience looking at the resulting image rendered in a Proto display, which is about as tall and wide and half as deep as an old-school phone booth. Image resolution at 4K is notably crisper and more realistic than previous generations of hologram technology.
As Nussbaum said in a release, “With Proto, more people can get more Paris in more places.” He also called her decision to invest and consult “ a dream come true.”
The company also has recently begun shipping a much smaller, 22-inch-high Proto M device to enterprise clients that provides much of the same communications ability minus the full-body image and substantial size of the original.
