Meta acquires smart lensmaker Luxexcel as it works toward AR glasses goal

Meta’s throwing more cash into the metaverse with its acquisition of Luxexcel, a Netherlands-based firm that focuses on 3D-printing prescription lenses for good glasses. The information was first reported by Dutch outlet De Tijd (by way of TechCrunch), however Meta has since confirmed to The Verge that it bought the corporate.

“We’re excited that the Luxexcel crew has joined Meta, deepening the present partnership between the 2 firms,” Meta says in an announcement supplied by Ryan Moore, the corporate’s head of monetary communications. Whereas the phrases of the deal are unknown, Meta CTO and Actuality Labs head, Andrew Bosworth, revealed in a weblog publish earlier this month that the corporate’s pouring “about half” of the metaverse-focused division’s working bills into augmented actuality (AR), whereas the opposite half’s going to constructing digital actuality merchandise (VR) because it continues to bleed billions.

Luxexcel, which was based in 2009, says it could combine the weather wanted to create an augmented actuality expertise inside a prescription lens, comparable to holographic movie and projectors. In 2021, it partnered with WaveOptics, the corporate that gives the shows for Snap’s Spectacles, to create a lens outfitted with waveguides, or the clear show know-how wanted to superimpose digital objects on a consumer’s real-life setting.

At the same time as Meta works towards constructing its first pair of AR glasses, we could not see a completed product for a while. Bosworth says Meta’s AR glasses will “require years of progress” because it makes an attempt to make the gadget “slimmer, lighter, sooner, and extra highly effective.” In June, The Verge’s Alex Heath reported that the primary model of Meta’s AR glasses will solely be obtainable to builders — similar to Snap’s Spectacles — whereas two later pairs might turn out to be obtainable to shoppers over the course of a number of years.