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/ Swave, a new Imec and VUB, Spin-off, Raises €7M to Deliver Truly Realistic AR/VR Experiences to Applications Like the Metaverse

Press release

Swave, a new Imec and VUB, Spin-off, Raises €7M to Deliver Truly Realistic AR/VR Experiences to Applications Like the Metaverse

Investment Will Accelerate Development of Revolutionary Holographic eXtended Reality (HXR) Technology to Make Virtual Reality Practically Indistinguishable from the Real World

Availability

Swave’s HXR microchip products are mass-producible, cost-effective and reliable. Large chip versions (2 cm x 2 cm) are designed for ultra-high-end holographic display applications, and tiny 0.5 cm x 0.5 cm versions will target ultra-light-weight wearable devices. Initial HXR chip samples are planned to be available in 2023. Future versions of HXR chips will be optimized for additional emerging AR/VR/XR applications.

About Swave

Swave Photonics is a fabless semiconductor company that designs and markets holographic chips based on proprietary diffractive photonics technology. Its mission is to bring the metaverse to life and enable display manufacturers and content creators to disrupt the visualization market with immersive, ultra-high-resolution, lifelike, true holographic displays. Swave envisions a world where holographic displays give everyone the power to visualize the impossible, collaborate and accomplish more. www.swave.io

About Imec

Imec is a world-leading research and innovation center in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. Imec leverages its state-of-the-art R&D infrastructure and its team of more than 5,000 employees and top researchers for R&D in advanced semiconductor and system scaling, silicon photonics, artificial intelligence, beyond 5G communications and sensing technologies, and in application domains such as health and life sciences, mobility, industry 4.0, agrofood, smart cities, sustainable energy and education. Imec unites world industry leaders across the semiconductor value chain, Flanders-based and international tech, pharma, medical and ICT companies, start-ups, and knowledge centers and academia such as in this case Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Imec is headquartered in Leuven (Belgium) and has research sites across Belgium, in the Netherlands, and in the US, and offices in China, India, Taiwan and Japan. In 2021, Imec's revenue (P&L) totaled 732 million euros.  

Further information on Imec can be found at www.imec-int.com

Imec is a registered trademark for the activities of imec International (IMEC International, a legal entity set up under Belgian law as a “stichting van openbaar nut”), imec Belgium (IMEC vzw supported by the Flemish Government), imec the Netherlands (Stichting IMEC Nederland),  imec Taiwan (IMEC Taiwan Co.), imec China (IMEC Microelectronics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.), imec India (IMEC India Private Limited), imec San Francisco (IMEC Inc.) and imec Florida (IMEC USA Nanoelectronics Design Center Inc.).

Over Flanders Future Tech Fund

Het Flanders Future Tech Fund is een early stage financieringsfonds dat wil inspelen op de financieringsnoden van vroege technologie-initiatieven van de SOC’s, universiteiten en Vlaamse speerpuntclusters, en ook van private partijen. Met de investeringen wil het Flanders Future Tech Fund inzetten op de valorisatie van technologie die door Vlaamse bedrijven is ontwikkeld, met bijzondere aandacht voor de speerpuntdomeinen Zorg en welzijn, Digitale transformatie en Klimaat & Duurzaamheid. Het Flanders Future Tech Fund heeft een fondsgrootte van 75 miljoen euro en kan financieringen aangaan van 0,5 tot 5 miljoen euro.