TL;DR
- YZi Labs has made a strategic investment in Funes, a platform preserving global architectural heritage through AI, computer vision, and collaborative photogrammetry.
- Funes aims to create a “Wikipedia of the physical world,” capturing temples, towers, and ruins in 3D using community-sourced images verified and enriched with structural metadata.
- YZi Labs’ investment will fund global 3D modeling expansion, an interactive digital experience, and AI integration with new technologies.
YZi Labs announced a strategic investment in Funes, a digital heritage platform aiming to build the world’s largest open archive of 3D architectural models. The project combines artificial intelligence, computer vision, and collaborative photogrammetry to preserve the physical memory of human civilization before it fades.
The Wikipedia of the Physical World
Funes seeks to capture in three dimensions every human-made structure — temples, towers, ruins, and homes — through an open and decentralized process. The system uses community-submitted images to generate accurate, detailed models, which are then verified and enriched with structural metadata, photos, and descriptions. Its goal is to create an interoperable database that serves researchers, creators, and technologists — functioning as a “Wikipedia of the physical world.”
To date, Funes has digitized nearly 1,000 structures and plans to add over 1,000 new ones annually. The models are organized on an online platform that allows users to explore, share, and reuse the content for academic, artistic, or commercial projects.
How Will YZi Labs’ Investment Be Used?
YZi Labs’ investment will fund three core areas: the global expansion of 3D modeling, the development of an interactive digital experience, and the integration of AI with technologies such as 3D Gaussian Splatting, Radiance Fields, and Large Language Models.
Funes co-founder Hanyang Wang noted that the database is already the largest online repository of real-world 3D architecture, and that its value will grow as the precision and scale of the models increase. He added that beyond its cultural purpose, Funes will lay the groundwork for future commercial applications based on AI and computer vision.
Dana H., Investment Partner at YZi Labs, described the project as a “mission for humanity” and compared Funes to a “GitHub of the physical world,” where users can create, store, and share architectural models that help preserve cultural heritage while enhancing opportunities for study and digital recreation.
Inspired by Borges’ idea of infinite memory, Funes aims to become an eternal museum — a living archive keeping the world’s material heritage accessible and alive, uniting archaeology, engineering, and artificial intelligence on a single platform
