Meta bought Luxexcel, a 3D prescription glasses brand

Meta bought Luxexcel, a Dutch brand that specializes in the development and manufacture of prescription glasses with 3D capabilities. 

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Luxexcel produces and manufactures prescription glasses and prints them in 3D to integrate them into smart glasses. 

The company, founded in 2009, claims it can integrate the necessary elements to create an augmented reality experience inside a graduated lens as if it were a holographic film and projectors. 

In 2021, Luxexcel made a strategic alliance with WaveOptics, the company responsible for providing the displays to Snap's Spectacles, to create a lens that would be equipped with waveguides, as well as transparent display technology needed to be able to superimpose virtual objects over the wearer's real-world environment.

A statement from Meta, provided by the head of financial operations, Ryan Moore, stated, "We are excited to have Luxexcel join Meta, thereby deepening the partnership between the two companies." As we said, the terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

However, the CTO of Reality Labs' Andrew Bosworth, said in a December blog post that the company is investing about half of the Metaverse-focused division's operating expenses to develop augmented reality. The other half is used to build virtual reality products. 

Meta aims at the smart glasses industry 

Thanks to the purchase of Luxexcel, Meta will benefit from the technology built by the company to manufacture glasses. 

But despite the efforts, some sources point out that Meta has postponed the launch of augmented reality glasses for the consumer market, which it had planned for 2024. The first version of the augmented reality glasses will likely be for developers only. 

What is clear is that Meta is not stopping and continues with its strategy of buying small companies specialized in the development of innovative virtual and augmented reality technology with which to build its vision of the metaverse.

A clear example is the virtual and augmented reality helmet Quest, which was created from the purchase of Oculus in 2014. Similarly, in September 2021, Meta, in alliance with the Italian brand Ray-Ban, launched Ray-Ban Stories, smart glasses with which you can record, take pictures and make calls, all controlled by side buttons or voice commands.