What the business is
California company developing AR contact lenses and micro-LED displays
The bet
Micro-LED display technology, developed for the lens, can stand as a business of its own and disrupt the $160B display industry
Starting capital
$45 million Series B-1 announced in January 2022
How it started
Mojo Vision developed AR contact lenses, which TechCrunch had followed at several CES shows, year by year. Its vision was what CEO Drew Perkins called Invisible Computing, and its most recent funding was a $45M Series B-1 announced in January 2022.
What happened
On 6 January 2023 the company said it was decelerating work on the Mojo Lens, citing significant challenges in raising capital. Perkins blamed the bad economy and the yet-to-be proven market potential for advanced AR products, and said the company believed there would be a future market for the lens and would accelerate it when the time was right.
How it ended up
Mojo said it would focus resources on its micro-LED technology, a 14,000 ppi display, which Perkins said could disrupt the $160 billion display industry. Staff were cut by 75%, across roles and divisions. The company declined further comment.
What has to be true
Mojo had significant challenges raising the capital the lens project needed
The economy was weak, which made funding harder
Perkins cited the yet-to-be proven market for advanced AR products
The micro-LED display was a product it believed could stand alone while the lens waited
What can be applied
When a long-horizon hardware product cannot raise its next round, the component developed along the way can become the fallback business, if it can find buyers faster than the cash runs out.
Aftermath
As of 2023-01-06, Mojo Vision had paused Mojo Lens production, cut 75% of staff and said it would put its resources into micro-LED; it declined further comment.
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