Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group (LCIG), a $500m corporate venturing initiative launched in May by China-based laptop manufacturer Lenovo, has partnered wearable US-based computing technology provider Kopin to fund augmented reality (AR) headsets.
The joint venture, Lenovo New Vision, is a new subsidiary of LCIG but Kopin will provide a “small capital investment, industrial design solutions, and know-how” so some of its components, including micro-displays, optics, software and its Whisper voice chip, can be used in headsets.
George He, president of LCIG, said: “AR/VR is the next generation technology that will change the world after PC [personal computer], internet and mobile internet. It is a required technology investment direction for virtually every enterprise.
“We truly value the cooperation with Kopin, and believe that this cooperation can further accelerate the growth of the enterprise AR market by bringing users optimised products and services.”
LCIG was set up to incubate subsidiaries and introduce external venture capital, with its subsidiaries as of May 2016 including ShareIt, Lenovo Cloud, Lenovo Connect, Online Biometric Authentication, Lenovo Finance, Lenovo Smart Healthcare and Lenovo New Glass.
The unit also makes capital investments and accelerates portfolio company growth, with more than 40 startups in its portfolio, including iDreamSky, Face++, StyleWe, Shopex, Zaker, Diting Technology, Nok Nok Labs, Newifi, Huilicai and SmartX.
LCIG said in May it would invest $500m in cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, robotic and internet services projects through the Lenovo Capital Phase II Investment Fund.