Founders & History
Claire Boonstra (Co-Founder, Layar)
Claire is a true Internet native and a widely recognized mobile Internet specialist, being named one of the Top 10 Most Influential Women in Technology by FastCompany and Laptop Magazine. Since earning her degree in Civil Engineering (Delft University of Technology) and beginning her professional career in 2001, Claire has worked in Mobile, Marketing and New Media. Previous employers include KPN Mobile (introducing i-mode to the European market), Unilever (European Brand Manager) and Talpa Digital (new online-media ventures). Together with her co-founders Maarten Lens-FitzGerald and Raimo van der Klein, Claire started Mobile Monday Amsterdam and SPRXmobile before launching Layar in 2009. Claire is primarily responsible for facilitating the third-party brand, agency and developer ecosystem of Layar.
Claire on Twitter: @claireboo
Claire on LinkedIn: in/claireboonstra
Maarten Lens-FitzGerald (General Manager, Layar)
Maarten has been an Internet professional since 1993, helping national and international companies take their first steps online and developing Web 2.0 strategies and campaign concepts. In 2007 he brought his expertise to the mobile industry, co-founding Mobile Monday Amsterdam and later SPRXmobile with Raimo van der Klein and Claire Boonstra. In 2008 Maarten was diagnosed with cancer and became known as Patient 2.0, sharing all his experiences through the social Web and via his blog MaartensJourney.com. Maarten declared himself Ex-Patient 2.0 in the summer of 2009 as SPRXmobile launched Layar, of which he is now General Manager. Maarten is happy, healthy and married. He lives in Amsterdam, The Netherlands with his wife, son and two cats.
Maarten on Twitter: @dutchcowboy
Maarten on LinkedIn: /in/lensfitzgerald
Raimo van der Klein (CEO, Layar)
Raimo became a freelance mobile consultant in 2007 following a successful career in Sales & Marketing at Nokia and as Principal Innovation Manager at KPN Mobile. During these early days as a freelancer Raimo founded Mobile Monday Amsterdam with Maarten Lens-Fitzgerald and Claire Boonstra, which quickly became the largest and most succesful Mobile Monday in the world. In May 2008 Raimo became co-founder and partner at SPRXmobile – a mobile agency focusing on strategy and concept development with clients like Vodafone and Rabobank. In June 2009 SPRXmobile launched Layar – the world’s leading Augmented Reality platform for mobile, of which he is now Chief Executive Officer.
Raimo on Twitter: @rhymo
Raimo on LinkedIn: /in/raimovanderklein
History of Layar
Back in 2007, Raimo van der Klein, Maarten Lens-FitzGeraldand Claire Boonstra were part of the founding team of Mobile Monday Amsterdam. They did this in their free time to connect people who shared their enthusiasm for mobile technological innovation.
Mobile Monday Amsterdam flourished and in 2008 Raimo, Maarten and Claire set up in business together, launching SPRX Mobile. The focus was on evolving their vision for the mobile market of the future. As Claire puts it, “We wanted to create our own playground.”
Inspired by the 2006 Sci-Fi novel Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge, the team began exploring the possibilities offered by content layered on top of reality: the Layar concept was born.
When Raimo, Maarten and Claire launched the Layar application with its first five layers on June 16th 2009, they felt they were onto something special. When 48 hours later it had already been picked up on by most of the media that mattered in their world, they knew they were.