Israel-based smart glasses developer OrCam Technologies has closed $30.4m in funding provided by insurance provider Clal Insurance and investment management firm Meitav Dash, Reuters reported yesterday.
The two investors secured a stake of approximately 3% between them through their investment, valuing OrCam at $1bn.
The deal comes ahead of a planned initial public offering OrCam has been preparing since April 2017. It expects to raise another $100m from global funds in about a year’s time before listing at a $1.5bn to $2bn valuation.
Founded in 2010, OrCam produces a wireless smart camera that is attached to spectacles. The device helps visually impaired people read text, detect supermarket barcodes and recognise faces, dictating the information into the user’s ear.
The company hopes to eventually expand the technology to target customers suffering from dyslexia or fatigue when reading, as well as evolving it into an artificial intelligence assistant.
OrCam has raised approximately $130m to date according to Reuters, though the company has disclosed limited details about past rounds. It secured $41m in capital in February 2017 from undisclosed backers at a $600m valuation.
Intel Capital, the corporate venture capital arm of chipmaker Intel, reportedly invested $15m the company in 2014, though Reuters has claimed since then that the unit actually supplied $6m.
Other past investors in OrCam include Aviv Venture Capital, which according to Pitchbook helped increase the 2014 round to $20m, as well as BRM Capital, Btov Partners and angel investor Daniel Gutenberg.