Lumus, an Israel-based leading developer of high-end transparent near-to-eye displays for augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and smart eyewear, has announced that it’s recently managed to secure $15 million in a Series B funding round. The majority of the funding has come from the global private investment firm Shanda Group, with Crystal-Optech, a Chinese optical imaging company, also contributing.

The augmented and mixed reality market is being predicted to grow dramatically over the next several years, according to new research from MarketsandMarkets, which asserts that the AR market will be worth $80 billion by 2022. It’s unsurprising then that Lumus, founded in 2000, wants to use the money to scale up the production of its optical devices in preparation for bringing them to the consumer market.

Lumus CEO Ben Weinberger said of the money raised: “With this financing Lumus will move rapidly toward bringing our revolutionary optics technology to consumer applications. Our production ramp-up is driven by demand for Lumus displays to power high-end augmented and mixed reality applications.”

One of the main reasons Lumus is such a leader in transparent optical displays is its patented Light-guide Optical Element. This is a unique eyeglass lens that contains several ultra-thin transparent reflectors and a small, patented mini-projector that injects an image into the lens. Used together, these features mean that Lumus’ optics are able to offer a very bright wide field of view and an extremely clear transparent display.

Tianqiao Chen, Chairman and CEO of the Shanda Group said that “Lumus provides innovative, ground breaking optical technology for augmented reality and mixed reality that has been highly recognized industry-wide, and that is the main driver behind our leading this round of financing.” Chen went on to say that the Shanda Group believes that “Lumus is poised to solidify its leading position in transparent optical display as AR and MR applications are taking off.”

As more information on Lumus and the developments that will come out of this financial win for the company become available VRFocus will report them.

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