Swave raises €27 million for holographic display roll out
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Holographic display pioneer Swave Photonics NV (Leuven, Belgium) has raised €27 million (about US$28.25 million) in a Series A round of financing.
The company, a spin-off from the IMEC research institute founded in 2022, raised €3 million in seed funding in 1H23. The latest round brings the total raised by Swave to €37 million.
The company said the funding would be used to advance its Holographic eXtended Reality (HXR) platform to enable AI-powered augmented reality (AR) smartglasses and heads-up displays.
The funding round was co-led by imec.xpand and SFPIM Relaunch, with participation from new investors EIC Fund, IAG Capital Partners, and Murata Electronics North America, Inc., as well as existing investors Qbic Fund, PMV, IMEC, and Luminate.
Sub-wavelength pixels
Swave’s HXR technology is based on the use of sub-wavelength pixels with the optical properties of phase-change material laid down over silicon. Swave uses a conventional alloy of germanium, antimony and tellurium (GST), the same type of material used in the fabrication of CDs and DVDs. GST can exist in two states – disordered or crystalline – with different reflectivity.
By making arrays with a pixel-pitch below the wavelength of visible light it is possible to program the visual field to produce an optical wavefront, as if from a real object.
Swave claims that HXR will solve challenges faced by AR devices, including size, weight and power consumption but also visual phenomena that cause fatigue or nausea for users.
“This round will accelerate Swave’s product introductions as we continue to solve the challenges of today’s AR experiences through true holography,” said Mike Noonen, CEO of Swave, in a statement.
“We are co-designing every element – from our holographic SLMs with cutting-edge nano-pixels, to real-time compute chips, light engines, and AR combiners – delivering the most advanced and integrated solution yet,” said Theo Marescaux, Swave co-founder and chief product officer, in the same statement.
COO Dmitri Choutov, said that Swave has completed prototype designs and now has silicon running through partner fabs. The next step is the introduction of a product development kit and production devices soon after, he said.
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