Recon Instruments, a Canada-based company producing electronic displays for alpine goggles, secured $10m in series A funding on Tuesday from investors including the Kopin Corporation, a manufacturer of LCD displays and transistors for consumer and military markets.
The round was led by venture capital firm Vanedge Capital, and Recon plans to invest the money in marketing its goggles to a wider customer base as well as expanding its technology to smartphones where it can incorporate communication as well as displayed information.
Recon’s technology allows skiers to view micro optic augmented reality displays through their goggles and the graphics display, which hangs over the skier’s line of sight, incorporates GPS satellite tracking, statistics covering speed, altitude and outside temperature, and even music and phone text messages.
John C. C. Fan, chief executive officer of Kopin, said: "Recon has very cleverly developed micro display based products and concepts that enhance the excitement of action sports by measuring and conveying performance statistics in a compact eyewear such as a ski goggle. Recon has been a customer of Kopin for several years and we are very impressed with their unique approach to expanding the micro display market."
The investment comes one year after Kopin acquired Forth Dimension Displays, a UK-based company also specialising in near-to-eye microdisplay technology.