JigSpace's journey began in 2015 in the unassuming front room of founder Zac Duff's house in Pascoe Vale South, in the Northern Suburbs of Melbourne. At the time, Duff was teaching video game development, focusing on 3D concepts but using two-dimensional tools like PowerPoints and PDFs.
"This idea stuck with me," Duff recalls. "One Friday, I started prototyping a tool that would let me create 3D presentations about anything easily. We used PowerPoint for all our presentations, so I wondered, 'What is the 3D PowerPoint?' That's where it started. I called it Jig."
The breakthrough came when Duff created his first Jig, an assembly guide for the IKEA Lack table.
"Seeing it hit me like a freight train: we exist in three dimensions, but we share information in two dimensions. It's fundamentally unnatural to our minds," he explains.
This profound realisation saw Duff to quit his job and dedicate himself entirely to JigSpace in mid-2015. "It's been nine years and one month since then," he reflects.
"The first developer kits for Oculus VR had just come out. Before any mainstream headsets, I'd been playing with VR since 2010, working on an augmented reality headset for arcades at TimeZone."
Despite the nascent stage of the technology, Duff saw immense potential. "I could see that someone would eventually do a great job with the hardware and software, merging into a tech powerful enough to bring 3D into the real world. Apple Vision Pro is the culmination of that vision," he says.
Duff's journey from a modest home office to leading a globally recognised tech company is a testament to his vision and determination. "We exist in three dimensions, but we share information in two dimensions. It's fundamentally unnatural to our minds," he reiterates, encapsulating the core philosophy that drives JigSpace.
Gathering Momentum
JigSpace started to gather some momentum in early 2016, when Duff and his co-founder Numa Bertron embarked on a trip to the United States to join the Boost Accelerator. This program, spearheaded by Adam Draper, is known for its focus on frontier technologies such as AR, VR, crypto, blockchain, jetpacks, and space tech.
"Adam Draper’s accelerator put $20,000 into us at the start and then doubled down and reinvested after a few months. This was a huge signal that our idea had potential," Duff recalls. After spending four months at the accelerator, Duff and Bertron returned to Melbourne, setting up shop in Duff's living room. They worked tirelessly, day and night, to bring their vision to life.
To test the waters, the team posted a few of their early jigs on Reddit, specifically on the "explain like I’m five" subreddit. The response was overwhelming. "If someone asked why you can see more in your peripheral vision in low light, we’d make a jig for the top answer. The response was amazing," Duff says. "People said they wished they could learn everything this way and asked for more."
The unexpected demand put a strain on their servers, which struggled to keep up. "We had to keep rebooting them. This was the first moment we realized people found joy in understanding the world in the way their minds perceive it," Duff shares.
Duff emphasizes that JigSpace is designed for non-technical people. "It’s not for your engineers, your 3D artists, all that stuff. It’s for non-technical people, much like what Canva has done. It’s democratising access and sharing of knowledge in 3D," he explains.
While JigSpace is available on multiple platforms, the Apple Vision Pro represents the start of what Duff believes will be a transformational era for spatial computing. "It's just version one, the start of spatial computing. The next five to ten years of this technology are going to be completely transformational as it miniaturizes and becomes more accessible. It's just going to change the way we use our computers."
JigSpace's impact has been profound on the Vision Pro, with over 50,000 downloads and users spending approximately 5,000 hours exploring jigs. "We recently released an update allowing people to view all the jigs they've created, over half a million, on Vision Pro. The usage spiked again, and the time spent in jigs went up. The response has been phenomenal," Duff says. "If you go into an Apple store in the US and use a demo device, JigSpace is pre-installed. We've had a huge impact."
Anchored in Victoria
Thanks to Breakthrough Victoria’s investment, JigSpace is set to remain headquartered in the Victoria and create up to 40 jobs by 2028, with plans to grow total employment to 80 by 2030.
"We were introduced to BV through one of our existing investors. They suggested we should talk to BV," Duff recalls.
Duff praises the thoroughness and professionalism of the BV team.
"I mentioned to the team a lot during the process how impressed I was with the amount of work the BV team did. Despite the detailed due diligence, they made it feel positive and kept moving forward, finding ways to reduce the amount of paperwork needed to get everyone aligned as efficiently as possible. It was awesome," he explains.
Duff’s commitment to keeping JigSpace rooted in Victoria is both practical and personal. "Maybe I'm just a little bit parochial, but I do love flying the flag for the state and for Jig as a Victorian company," he admits. "That's where Jig’s headquarters are, in Victoria, and they always will be. I believe there's no reason why we can't build world-leading companies in Victoria, in Australia. There's no reason we can't."
The pride in his voice is palpable as he speaks about the company’s achievements. "I’m really excited to have it here. Our world-class product is all built here. Our technology, which is world-class, is built here. Everything we do is built in the northern suburbs of Melbourne," he emphasizes.
Duff sees BV’s role in the startup ecosystem as crucial. "If you look at the Victorian startup ecosystem and Australia in general as a funding ecosystem, there isn't a huge amount of funds that have the kind of focus and remit that BV has," he explains.
As JigSpace continues to grow and innovate, the support from BV will play a pivotal role in its future successes. With a steadfast commitment to Victoria, JigSpace is not just poised to democratize 3D visualization but also to cement its place as a cornerstone of the state’s tech landscape.