Swave photonicsa holographic display company, has raised $28.27 million to arrange components for AI-powered smartglasses and heads-up displays.
Swave said the Series A investment will speed up 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 showcase its technology at CES 2025.
The financing round was co-led by investors Imec.xpand and SFPIM Relaunch, with participation from latest investors EIC Fund, IAG Capital Partners and Murata Electronics North America, in addition to existing investors Qbic Fund, PMV, Imec and Luminate.
Swave relies 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 incorporates veterans in photonics and semiconductors.
“This round will speed up Swave’s product launches as we proceed to unravel the challenges of today’s AR experiences through true holography,” Swave CEO Mike Noonen said in a press release. “We are pleased concerning the continued support of our existing and latest 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 turn into the first 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 press release. “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 essentially the most advanced and integrated solution yet.”
“With seed funding from Swave, we were capable of successfully construct our team, display the ability of the technology and complete prototype designs,” said Dmitri Choutov, COO, in a press release. “With Series A funding secured and silicon operations underway at our partner factories, we’re on target to launch product development kits and production equipment soon thereafter.”
Swave's HXR technology uses what it calls the “smallest pixel on this planet” to shape light and form high-quality 3D holographic images, creating a practical user experience where digital information interacts and adapts to the user's environment. Using the patented DynamicDepth technology, the pictures may be processed naturally by the human visual system.
AR devices currently being prototyped or in the marketplace all face challenges resembling high cost, inconvenient size and weight, significant power consumption, and visual phenomena resembling vergence-accommodation conflict that cause nausea or fatigue in users. Swave's unique HXR technology not only solves these problems, but additionally eliminates the necessity for the most costly components resembling waveguides or progressive lenses, that are fundamentally required in existing AR devices.
Swave's technology has been in development for over a decade and the corporate 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 likely be honored with a CES Innovation Award at CES 2025.
