TriLite, developer of the world’s smallest projection display, announced today that it has raised €8 million in a new round of funding, enabling its customers to bring mass market augmented reality eyewear to the consumer market.
The participants in the funding round included APEX Ventures, B&C Innovation Investments, Hermann Hauser Investment, TEC Ventures and QC·Ventures amongst others. It follows an earlier seed funding round in December 2019.
TriLite’s ultra-compact projection displays are ideal for consumer augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) applications, enabling AR/MR glasses to finally overcome the bulkiness and weight that has so far prevented their mass market adoption. Worldwide shipments of head-mounted displays (HMDs) are forecast to grow at an annual rate of 60% CAGR between 2020 and 2027. TriLite’s unique laser beam scanner (LBS) technology is an essential enabler of this growth.
Alexander Moser-Parapatits, Managing Director at B&C Innovation Investments, said, “We are excited to be part of TriLite as they leverage years of leading development to realize the smallest display to enable leading OEM’s in the AR/MR market. We are looking forward to a long-term partnership with TriLite and we are convinced that this ground-breaking technology will provide substantial additional value to new products and applications.”
Deep-Tech pioneer, Hermann Hauser, Founder of Hermann Hauser Investment GmbH,
expanded, “TriLite’s tiny displays are set to be a game-changer for AR/MR glasses since they’ll be as lightweight as today’s eyewear, and this is sure to finally drive mass adoption of AR/MR in the consumer market.”
Peter Weigand, CEO at TriLite, said, “This new round of funding will enable us to invest in innovation and increase our competitive advantage, whilst further strengthening our patent portfolio and building our manufacturing services platform.”
Building upon pioneering research over the last ten years, TriLite’s Trixel® 3 is the world’s smallest and lightest projection display, with a total volume of just 0.92cm3. Trixel® 3 incorporates a micro optical RGB laser light source and a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) mirror, enabling it to generate bright, high-quality images while setting benchmarks for lowest power consumption.
In addition to its market-leading hardware, TriLite has invested heavily in innovative software, which makes it simple for developers to adopt its solutions. The software includes proprietary calibration algorithms that enable the size and complexity of the optical system to be minimized.
TriLite offers a manufacturing platform that accelerates time-to-market of its customers and provides a robust, high-volume supply chain. Through this platform, TriLite combines its own manufacturability expertise with industry-leading partners to secure a successful production ramp for end-customers.
About APEX Ventures
APEX Ventures is a Europe based Venture Capital Firm investing into deep-tech start-ups with a focus on unique and defendable intellectual property and above-average market potential. APEX funds have completed numerous investments in Europe and in the U.S., among others in the fields of A.I. for medical applications, quantum and laser technologies, automation and robotics, computer vision, space technologies, as well as digital forensics. APEX Ventures closely supports the founding teams in their go-to-market approaches to help accelerate international growth. To identify talented teams and support their ideas at an early stage, APEX Ventures closely works with academic institutions, entrepreneurship programs and other international VC partners.
See: APEX Ventures | Deep Tech VC Funds
About B&C Innovation Investments
Founded in 2016, B&C Innovation Investments (BCII, Innovation Investments – B&C Gruppe (bcgruppe.at) is a subsidiary of B&C Private Foundation (Privatstiftung – B&C Gruppe (bcgruppe.at). BCII focuses on investments in growth industrial tech companies (“scaleups”) and currently holds minority interests in the companies TTTech, Frequentis, Flightkeys, contextflow, TriLite, Citrine, Kinexon, Klarx, Kreatize, as well as in an Austrian start-up fund. By means of B2B-focused investments, BCII concentrates on new technologies that are relevant to the industrial sector and pursues a long-term investment strategy. Through the activities of BCII, as well as majority shareholdings in AMAG Austria Metall AG, Lenzing AG and Semperit AG Holding and fostering scientific research and education initiatives, the B&C Group contributes to promoting Austria as an attractive business location.
About QC·VENTURES
QC·VENTURES is the Vienna-based venture capital arm of boutique investment platform
Q·ADVISERS, backing exceptional companies that have potential for growth, disruption and ambition to scale internationally. QC·VENTURES has a proven track record and expertise in the fields of longevity and life sciences, disruptive technologies and a growing interest in investments that effectively combine profit with purpose. Founded by Fritz Schweiger, Q·ADVISERS and its subsidiaries are active in real estate, venture capital, private equity and
asset management.
About Hermann Hauser Investment GmbH
The Hermann Hauser Investment GmbH bundles the business angel activities of Hermann Hauser in Central Europe. He is co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners and invests since more than 30 years in scaling deep technology companies. Hermann’s successes at Amadeus include CSR, Entropic Research Laboratory, Solexa and Icera. He is also Vice-Chair of the EIC Pilot Advisory Board. In 2012 he was elected to be a member of the Royal Society and in 2015 he was awarded a KBE.
About TEC Ventures
TEC Ventures is a family-owned and independent Venture Capital Firm based in Germany and belongs to an international Group of Companies. TEC Ventures invests in markets and industries characterized by high growth and product innovation with a focus in the fields of Deeptech, Health and LifeScience. We support our portfolio companies with our strong network of corporates and VC investors.
See: TEC Ventures | Early-Stage VC (tec-ventures.com)