Dispelix, which develops lenses for augmented reality glasses, received additional growth capital of EUR 18.5 million from investors.
Facebook Big talk about metaverse may be vague, but at least it falls directly on a Finnish technology company.
Dispelix, which develops augmented reality display technology, says it has provided investors with more growth capital in addition to the € 10 million pot announced in the spring. Now the new money is 18.5 million euros.
However, in the release, the company talks about a $ 33 million (€ 28 million) financing round, in which old and new money are packaged together.
The investors were the US private equity investors Atlantic Bridge, CCB Trust and Flashpoint, as well as the conglomerate 3M. The Finnish Lifeline Ventures, VTT Ventures and the state-owned private equity company Tesi also took part in the financing round.
The reason why Finnish startup technology is now hotter than before is due to Facebook’s metaverse vision, the symbol of which the company also changed to Meta.
Mark Zuckerberg sees the metaverse not only as a virtual reality (VR) but also as an augmented reality (AR) connected to the real world.
According to Zuckerberg, one of the biggest challenges for technology companies over the next ten years will be to immerse the supercomputer in ordinary eyeglasses that would allow for augmented reality to be used in everyday life.
Read more: What are you thinking, Facebook?
And that’s where the display technology of the Finnish Dispelix can be part of the solution.
Dispelixin The product is in practice a light guide that utilizes the in-depth photonics know-how developed in Finland. The lenses developed by the company can be used, for example, in augmented reality glasses.
It is a technological breakthrough that allows for a very thin and light lens. It can even be used to make glasses that look like regular all-day glasses.
“The laser projector itself is really small, the size of a little drill bit. We are currently the only developer that can do this, ”says Sunnari
Dispelix’s customers are still a trade secret, but they are big technology companies. In practice, such consumer reality glasses can be designed by technology companies such as Apple, Facebook, Google and Tencent.
Dispelix says it has 43 patent families granted and applied for in connection with lenses. According to the company, customer products utilizing its technology will be launched in 2023.
Read more: On the eve of a breakthrough
Summer after that, the accelerated rumble around the metaverse phenomenon has also appeared around it, according to Dispelix. On the other hand, many of its customers are at the same time moving from product development to industrial manufacturing and product launches.
“If you want to be inside the metaverse like in movies, you can do it with VR glasses. But if you think of other uses while on the move, you need a transparent lens. And that’s what we do, ”says Antti Sunnari.
These could be, for example, applications used in navigation or sports, the contents of which are reflected on the lens. The computing power itself and the internet connection would still remain in the user’s mobile phone, glasses are an accessory.
Dispelix now has about 80 employees, and this year it has also opened a subsidiary in China.
Developing display technology for augmented reality glasses, Dispelix is a component manufacturer for technology companies that are now preparing to release new consumer glasses.
Its worst competitor was acquired in the summer, which improves the market opportunities of Finnish technology. It was Wave Optics that also developed display technology for augmented reality glasses. Snap, an American listed company known for its Snapchat messaging app, bought it for about 436 million euros.
The British company Wave optics was a company founded in 2014 with about 125 employees and had raised a total of EUR 56 million from investors. It is therefore a reasonably close comparison to Dispelix.
“It was our most direct and worst competitor. If there were two good companies in the industry, they were the other one. Yes, a deal of that size from a competitor of quite the same size also affected our financing round, ”says Sunnari.
According to him, Dispelix’s financing round was eventually crowded, and the company was able to choose the most beneficial for it from investors. Atlantic Bridge had the most expertise and networks in the semiconductor industry.
Next, the company plans to increase production as its customers ’products approach the market.
Last year, Dispelix’s net sales were only EUR 1.2 million and consisted mainly of product development projects with customers. The company made an operating loss of EUR 6.4 million.
It has been a long time since the startup was founded in 2015, waiting for the market to emerge.
“There have been some jump curves through here. We have seen ups and downs in business around us. Creating a new market takes time, “says Sunnari.
.
#Metaversums #Finnish #company #Dispelix #develops #optics #benefits #Facebooks #metaverse #jump
