This Week XR Is Partying Like It’s 2021. RealWear’s SPAC merger leads the bunch in sheer size. Light Field Lab scored another $50M, Mawari $6.5M, Accenture invested in 3D display maker Looking Glass, and Engage XR is raising $11.7M in new financing.
RealWear to go public via SPAC that values the new co at $375.5 M RealWear, which makes a ruggedized head-mounted assisted reality device for industrial users, is merging with Cascadia Acquisition Corp (NSDQ: CCAI), which is nothing more than $187.5M is cash and a public listing looking for a tech deal like this. Over 70,000 RealWear devices are fielded by 5,000 enterprise customers around the world, including Siemens, Johnson & Johnson, and Ford. The company reported $20.5 million in 2022 revenue with a gross margin of 63%. The deal, which would value the combined company at $375.5M, is expected to close in the latter half of the year.
Here Come The Holograms: Light Field Labs Raises $50M for Commercial Launch. Their SolidLight holograms will launch for applications within the global video wall market, which encompasses multiple verticals like corporate spaces, entertainment venues, and public displays. Light Field Lab has raised a total of $85M, and is backed by Bill Gates (Gates Frontier), Vinod Khosla (Khosla Ventures), the VC arms of Bosch, Forvia, LG, Liberty Global, NTT Docomo, Samsung, and Verizon, and a prestigious list of venture capital firms, national technology funds, and strategic corporate partners including AVG, ACME Capital, Comcast, Corning, NCSOFT, OTOY, R7 Partners, and Taiwania Capital.
Mandy Dormain started working for Pawn Nerd in 2020. Mandy grew up in a small town in northern Tennessee. But moved to New York for university. Before joining Pawn Nerd, Mandy briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers politics and economy stories.
