Display technology startup Light Field Lab announced this week that it has raised $28 million in funding, VentureBeat reports. Leading the round were Bosch Venture Capital and Taiwania Capital, while Samsung, Verizon Ventures, Comcast, Liberty Global Ventures and NTT Docomo Ventures among others participated. To-date, Light Field Lab has raised a total of $35 million in investment capital.
The firm plans to use the money to transform its building block technology from prototype to product, with the goal of developing 3D-like holographic objects, or holograms, without the need for headgear such as augmented reality or virtual reality goggles.
“The ultimate goal is to enable the things that we all think of in science fiction as the hologram. There’s a lot of things out there, but you know, they say that flying cars and holograms are the two things that science fiction hasn’t yet quite delivered. And we’re going to at least get that started.”
“The ultimate goal is to enable the things that we all think of in science fiction as the hologram,” Jon Karafin, CEO of San Jose, Cali.-based Light Field Lab, said in an earlier interview on VentureBeat. “There’s a lot of things out there, but you know, they say that flying cars and holograms are the two things that science fiction hasn’t yet quite delivered. And we’re going to at least get that started.”
“Real-time physics-based rendering is a huge game for everything we’re doing, in addition to the fact that they already have plugins for the majority of every software package out there,” Karafin added. “We want to make sure that the way we roll our technologies out is starting with the really big thing, using large-scale, high-value entertainment experiences, showing something that is transformational that nobody has ever seen before.”
Karafin went on to explain that the company will initially go after big venues and large-format entertainment, but ultimately is targeting the consumer market. Light Field Lab is prioritizing partnerships that will enable industry adoption and market expansion.
“Light Field Lab’s holographic displays are the most exciting new technology we have seen in the entertainment space to date,” said Ankur Prakash, vice president at Liberty Global Ventures, in a statement. “We are thrilled to meaningfully participate in their Series A and are well-positioned to help them align with the industry’s top content creators and accelerate holographic media distribution on next-generation networks.”
