Swave Photonics secures €27M for 3D holographic display technology

Belgian holographic display company Swave Photonics has closed its €27 million Series A funding round., bringing its funding to over €37 million. 

Founded in 2022, and spun out from imec, Swave develops chipsets to deliver reality-first spatial computing powered by AI. The company's Holographic eXtended Reality (HXR) display technology is the first to achieve true holography by sculpting lightwaves into natural, high-resolution images.

Swave's HXR technology uses the world's smallest pixel to shape light and sculpt high-quality 3D holographic images, creating a reality-first user experience, where digital information interacts and adapts to the user's surroundings. The images allow for the human vision system to process them naturally leveraging patented DynamicDepth technology.

AR devices currently being prototyped or on the market are all faced with challenges of high cost, uncomfortable size and weight, significant power usage, and visual phenomena like Vergence-Accomodation Conflict, which cause nausea or fatigue for users. 

Swave's unique HXR technology not only solves these issues, but also eliminates the need for the most costly components, such as waveguides or varifocal lenses, inherently required for existing AR devices.

Swave's technology has been developed for over a decade and the company currently holds 60 core technology patents. 

The funding round was co-led by investors imec.xpand and SFPIM Relaunch, with participation from new investors EIC Fund, IAG Capital Partners, and Murata Electronics North America, Inc., as well as existing investors Qbic Fund, PMV, imec, and Luminate. 

"This round will accelerate Swave's product introductions as we continue to solve the challenges of today's AR experiences through true holography," said Mike Noonen, Swave CEO.

According to Theo Marescaux, Swave co-founder and Chief Product Officer: 

"AR glasses are set to become the primary interface for AI-powered spatial computing and other applications.

We are co-designing every element—from our holographic SLMs with cutting-edge nano-pixels to real-time compute chips, light engines, and AR combiners—delivering the most advanced and integrated solution yet."