Touchstone Innovations has contributed $4m to the round, which also included fellow existing shareholders Robert Bosch Venture Capital and Octopus Investments.
UK-based augmented reality (AR) technology developer WaveOptics raised £12m ($15.7m) in a funding round yesterday that included Touchstone Innovations, the commercialisation firm spun out of Imperial College London.
Robert Bosch Venture Capital, the corporate venturing division of engineering and electronics conglomerate Robert Bosch, also took part in the round, as did Octopus Investments and Gobi Ventures. Touchstone provided £3.1m.
WaveOptics is working on technology to enable augmented reality displays, focusing on the underlying optics rather than also developing sensors, cameras and headgear. The company’s technology makes it possible to have high-quality, full colour, see-through displays.
Touchstone, then known as Imperial Innovations, previously led a multi-million pound funding round in December 2015 with participation from Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Octopus, AR app developer Blippar and angel investors.
Blippar had also invested an undisclosed amount in June 2015, marking its first investment in hardware or wearable technology.
Robert Bahns, director of technology investment at Touchstone Innovations, said: “WaveOptics’ technology has the potential to open up the AR market by solving some of the key challenges to AR technology adoption.
“The company has made significant technical and commercial progress since the investment round we led in October 2015, with very positive feedback from industry on its initial beta products.
“This new funding will allow the company to complete its product development and position itself as a leader and key technology enabler of highly compelling AR experiences.”
