In a few hours after announcing new Spectacles, Snap has confirmed that the company has bought WaveOptics. WaveOptics is the company that supplied AR displays of new Spectacles. Snap recently unveiled new Spectacles glasses that include two built-in cameras, two speakers, and four microphones. These Spectacles let you see the world in AR.
The acquisition deal is worth over $500 million. This is also the largest buyout of Snap to date. The deal includes cash and stock. The first half of the amount comes from the stock instantly and the remainder will be payable in cash or stock in two years.
With this acquisition, Snap is protecting the technology behind its Spectacles’ built-in augmented reality. Even after this deal, WaveOptics will continue supplying its waveguides to other companies.
WaveOptics is based in Oxford, U.K and had raised about $65 million in funding from Octopus Ventures, IP Group, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, China’s Gobi Ventures, Goertek, and HostPlus. The company was founded in 2014 and has more than 100 employees working from the U.K., U.S., China, and Taiwan offices.
Snap is racing to build a good consumer AR device along with other tech giants like Facebook Inc and Apple Inc. The new Spectacles glasses are good but poor battery life doesn’t make it good for consumers. Now the company is working with AR sticker creators to make good stickers that users will see from Spectacles. If you are also an AR developer, you can apply to use glasses.
