DigiLens, the Silicon Valley-based waveguide maker, today announced that Samsung’s venture capital group Samsung Ventures is increasing its stake in the company.
At the time of this writing, neither firm has detailed the extent of the investment, stating simply that Samsung Ventures is again investing through a convertible debt instrument.
DigiLens most recently closed its Series C financing back in May 2019 to the tune of $50 million, which saw Samsung Ventures join alongside UDC Ventures, Niantic, Continental AG, Sony Innovation Fund, and Diamond Edge Ventures, the VC arm of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation as investors.
As a developer of waveguide displays and laser waveguide-based light engines, DigiLens aims to make cost-effective components for AR headsets, something it hopes to do at a consumer price point in the future.
The company touts its ability to create waveguide displays that are “smaller, thinner and lighter than conventional optics and light engines, and far cheaper to mass produce.”
Although the company is eyeing consumer AR, DigiLens has also integrated its technology into heads-up displays (HUDs) for a number of industries including automobiles, avionics, retail and architecture.
“Samsung Ventures is a partner who fully understands all the different challenges of the XR ecosystem. Optics are by far the hardest element of the next platform – especially when it comes to packaging them at an affordable price point and sleek form factor that will attract mass adoption,” said Chris Pickett, DigiLens CEO. “XR devices simply can’t work without a compelling optical solution – they are the window into augmenting the world with digital content and we believe DigiLens’ light engine and waveguide solution will finally bring quality optics to the market. We’re hugely proud of our ecosystem of licensed manufacturers, software partners and OEM investors who continue to support us in this mission.”
Outside of today’s investment, DigiLens has secured $90 million since it was founded in 2003.
Update (April 20th, 2020 – 12:10PM PT): An earlier version of this article stated that DigiLens had raised $110 million to date; this has been corrected to $90 million.