Swave Photonics raises $28.3 million for 3D holographic smartglasses and displays
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Swave photonicsa holographic display company, has raised $28.27 million to prepare components for AI-powered smartglasses and heads-up displays.
Swave said the Series A investment will accelerate further development of its Holographic eXtended Reality (HXR) platform, enabling a real-world user experience for AI-powered augmented reality (AR) smartglasses and heads-up displays. The company will demonstrate its technology below CES 2025.
The financing round was co-led by investors Imec.xpand and SFPIM Relaunch, with participation from new investors EIC Fund, IAG Capital Partners and Murata Electronics North America, as well as existing investors Qbic Fund, PMV, Imec and Luminate.
Swave is based in Leuven, Belgium previously raised a $10.47 million seed round in 2023 that fueled the launch of Swave’s HXR technology and the expansion of Swave’s team, which includes veterans in photonics and semiconductors.
“This round will accelerate Swave’s product launches as we continue to solve the challenges of today’s AR experiences through true holography,” Swave CEO Mike Noonen said in a statement. “We are pleased about the continued support of our existing and new investors. They recognize that Swave uniquely brings together semiconductor, holographic and AI technologies in a way that delivers cost-effective and truly useful solutions.”
“AR glasses will become the primary interface for AI-powered spatial computing and other applications, and Swave is uniquely positioned to enable this future,” said Theo Marescaux, Swave and chief product officer, in a statement. “We co-engineer every element – from our holographic SLMs with state-of-the-art nanopixels to real-time computing chips, light engines and AR combiners – delivering the most advanced and integrated solution yet.”
“With seed funding from Swave, we were able to successfully build our team, demonstrate the power of the technology and complete prototype designs,” said Dmitri Choutov, COO, in a statement. “With Series A funding secured and silicon operations underway at our partner factories, we are on track to launch product development kits and production equipment soon thereafter.”
Swave’s HXR technology uses what it calls the “smallest pixel in the world” to shape light and form high-quality 3D holographic images, creating a realistic user experience where digital information interacts and adapts to the user’s environment. Using the patented DynamicDepth technology, the images can be processed naturally by the human visual system.
AR devices currently being prototyped or on the market all face challenges such as high cost, inconvenient size and weight, significant power consumption, and visual phenomena such as vergence-accommodation conflict that cause nausea or fatigue in users. Swave’s unique HXR technology not only solves these problems, but also eliminates the need for the most expensive components such as waveguides or progressive lenses, which are fundamentally required in existing AR devices.
Swave’s technology has been in development for over a decade and the company currently holds 60 core technology patents. Vary announced its HXR platform in April 2024, followed by the achievement of the world’s first true color holographic display and recently announced that HXR will be honored with a CES Innovation Award at CES 2025.
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