US-based augmented reality technology developer Mojo Vision received more than $51m yesterday in a series B-1 round featuring corporates Google, KDDI, Liberty Global, Numbase Group and Motorola Solutions.
Venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA) led the round, which was also backed by Khosla Ventures, Struck Capital, Dolby Family Ventures, Fusion Fund, Intellectus Partners and InFocus Capital Partners.
Mobile engagement technology supplier Numbase invested directly while mass media group Liberty Global, internet technology provider Google, communications equipment producer Motorola Solutions and telecoms firm KDDI took part through Liberty Global Ventures, Gradient Ventures, Motorola Solutions Venture Capital and KDDI Open Innovation Fund.
Mojo Vision is working on a smart contact lens that will utilise a built-in display to provide information to users directly in their field of vision without them needing to look at external displays. It is intended to function as a visual aid for those with poor eyesight.
Drew Perkins, co-founder and chief executive of Mojo Vision, said: “This new round of funding brings more support and capital from strategic investors and companies to help us continue our breakthrough technology development.
“It gets us closer to bringing the benefits of Mojo Lens to people with vision impairments, to enterprises and eventually, consumers.”
The latest round came in the wake of a $58m series B in March 2019 featuring Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, Gradient Ventures, Kakao Ventures and HP Tech Ventures – subsidiaries of computing technology provider HP and internet group Kakao.
Electronics producer LG, Stanford-StartX, Advantech Capital and Bold Capital Partners also contributed to the 2019 round, announced four months after Mojo Vision emerged from stealth with $50m in funding.
Liberty Global and Shanda Group, an investment vehicle for online content provider Shanda Interactive, took part in the earlier round together with Open Field Capital, NEA, Khosla Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Fusion Fund, 8VC and Dolby Family Ventures.
Photo courtesy of Mojo Vision Inc.
