Belgium-based Swave Photonics’ Holographic eXtended Reality (HXR) gets €10M funding: Know more

Leuven, Belgium-based Swave Photonics, a pioneer in implementing true holography for augmented reality (AR), announced on Thursday that it has closed its seed expansion round with an additional investment of €3M, bringing the company’s total funds raised to €10M.

The round saw participation from existing investors imec.xpand, Flanders Future Techfund (FFTF), and QBIC, and new US-based investors Acequia Capital and Luminate NY. 

Swave says the funding will help it to execute its augmented reality roadmap and engage with future customers, partners, and investors interested in driving true holography for spatial computing.

“We are deeply gratified by the bolstered commitment of our current investors and are excited to welcome Acequia Capital and Luminate NY to the Swave family,” says Mike Noonen, CEO of Swave Photonics. 

“This collective vote of confidence in our groundbreaking technology and dedicated team underlines our commitment to revolutionising augmented reality through true holography,” adds Noonen. 

Holographic eXtended Reality (HXR) technology 

Swave has developed Holographic eXtended Reality (HXR) technology that enables the display of holographic images without focal depth and eye tracking. 

This technology can be manufactured using standard CMOS technology, making it scalable and cost-effective.

The company says that the HXR technology powers holographic glasses and headsets, providing immersive spatial AR experiences with exceptional resolution, perfect depth of focus, and 180-degree to 360-degree viewing angles, without the discomfort associated with traditional headsets. 

Applications powered by HXR gigapixel technology can pass the visual Turing test, making virtual reality almost indistinguishable from real-world images.

Swave Photonics: Fabless semiconductor company

Based out of Leuven, Swave Photonics is an industry-shaping fabless semiconductor company that conceives, designs, and markets holographic solutions deploying proprietary diffractive photonics and software. 

Its mission is to bring the metaverse to life and enable display manufacturers and content creators to disrupt the visualisation market with immersive, ultra-high-resolution, lifelike, true holographic displays. 

“We are exceptionally proud of the progress the team at Swave Photonics has made to date,” says Pieter Vorenkamp, Chairman of Swave Photonics and a distinguished leader in emerging technology operations.

 “The innovative holographic technology developed by Swave is the result of their technical leadership and shared dedication to driving forward the boundaries of what’s possible. I am confident this technical prowess will soon translate into operational excellence as we transition the technology into products, enabling mass-volume augmented reality applications,” adds Vorenkamp.