Israel augmented reality company Lumus Ltd. announced today that it has raised $30 million in funding from strategic investors including Taiwan's Quanta and HTC. Lumus plans to use the new financing to expand development, operations, and marketing of its groundbreaking, transparent wearable display technology for the AR and smart eyewear industry. Earlier this year - and as part of this $45 million round - the company raised $15 million in funding led by Shanda Group and Crystal-Optech.
Lumus makes the optical engine that empowers AR solutions, as augmented reality rapidly becomes an “essential gateway to customer engagement.” According to an IDC study released earlier this month, and could become an everyday technology for more than a billion consumers within the next five years. IDC predicts that 30% of Global 2000 companies will begin incorporating AR and virtual reality (VR) into their marketing programs during 2017. With market size projected to reach $90 billion by 2020, remarkable growth in the AR market is projected for years to come.
Founded in 2000, the Rehovot-based company creates optics that transform the way people interact with their reality, Lumus strives to set the standard for the underlying optical technology needed to create see-through wearable displays. Lumus serves multiple AR verticals that include health care, manufacturing logistics, avionics and, more recently, consumer products. The Lumus solution is based on its patented Light-guide Optical Element (LOE) waveguide, which combines the smallest dimension eyewear for any given field of view.
Lumus CEO Ben Weinberger said, “This new funding will help Lumus continue to scale up our R&D and production in response to the growing demand from companies creating new augmented reality and mixed reality applications, including consumer electronics and smart eyeglasses. We also plan to ramp up our marketing efforts in order to realize and capture the tremendous potential of our unique technology to re-envision reality in the booming AR industry.”
Quanta vice chairman and president C.C. Leung said, “AR/VR is well aligned with our growth strategy and we’re pleased to invest in the Lumus optics solution for augmented reality. This is pioneering technology, and we have great confidence in Lumus as an innovator and industry leader for transparent optical displays in the AR market.”
Lumus was represented by lawyers Jonathan Feuchtwanger and Ido Erlich of the Naschitz Brandes Amir & Co. law firm.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 19, 2016
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