WaveOptics, a designer and manufacturer of waveguide optics for AR displays, announced it’s raised a total of $39 million (£30m) in Series C funding, something the company says will help scale its business operations in the UK, US and Asia, and build a high volume manufacturing capability.
WaveOptics initially raised a majority of its Series C in December 2018, which at the time tallied $26 million. Now, the company has concluded the investment round with an additional $13 million. The additional funding came from existing investor Goertek, one of the VR industry’s leading manufacturers, and new investor Hostplus, an Australian venture capital firm.
Goertek’s continued investment comes on the heels of an exclusive manufacturing partnership struck between WaveOptics and Goertek late last year, which aims to enable mass manufacture of waveguides for ultimately cheaper AR headsets.
Although the China-based Goertek isn’t a household name, the company has quietly become a key enabler in the VR industry, providing manufacturing services behind some of the most prominent VR products on the market.
“We are seeing significant progress with our customers developing their own products based on our technology,” says David Hayes, WaveOptics CEO. “This was demonstrated in the first half of 2019 when we secured a number of significant partnerships with global OEMs and ODMs.”
WaveOptics now boasts both a 40 degree and 28 degree field of view waveguide product, along with its own 40 degree light engine, the tiny projector that works in concert with waveguides to create AR imagery.
WaveOptics expects to expand its product lineup with larger field of view optics at some point in the future. The company last told Road to VR back in November 2018 that a full color waveguide with a 55 degree field of view was in development.