Belgium-based AR tech company Swave Photonics raised EUR 3 million (~USD 3.3 million) in a seed funding round led by current investors imec.xpand, Flanders Future Techfund (FFTF), and QBIC as well as other new investors. The round brings the company's total funding to EUR 10 million (~USD 11 million).

The capital raised will facilitate Swave's development of its diffractive optics technology used in XR applications.

Swave Photonics, a spin-off from imec and Vrije Univeriteit Brusse, is a fabless semiconductor company that designs and sells holographic solutions integrating proprietary diffractive photonics and software. The company’s HXR technology offers 180° to 360° viewing angles for AR glasses and headsets. Additionally, Swave recently gained recognition as a finalist in Luminate NY's accelerator program and competition, adding to their prior achievements at the 2023 SPIE Photonics West Startup Challenge and the 2023 AWE USA Startup to Watch competition. 

Analyst QuickTake: In June 2022 , Swave raised EUR 7 million (~USD 7.7 million) in seed financing to fund the commercialization of its HXR tech, which the company claims enables 1000x higher pixel resolution for realistic 20/20 vision without requiring viewers to wear smart AR/VR headsets or prescription glasses.