Just imagine the day where your eyes can do everything your smart phone does, that too without screens, glasses or even bulky gadgets. Let me guess your thought on this, you probably would have thought that it’s impossible. That was my first thought too, until I came across XPANCEO’s crazy idea. What is XPANCEO? XPANCEO is a deep tech startup that is based in Dubai, and it is working behind this innovation. And the company just raised a whopping $250 million in Series A funding. Which pushes up its valuation to $1.35 billion and it has officially joined the unicorn club.
The Startup Changing How We See the World
XPANCEO has been founded by physicist Dr. Valentyn S. Volkov and entrepreneur Roman Axelrod. It is developing the first multifunctional smart contact lenses. And their goal? They’ve laid it down pretty clear- they want to replace all of your personal devices. Be it phones, smartwatches, even AR glasses, all of it with a single seamless lens that fits on your eye. While tech giants like Meta are already pushing boundaries with AI-powered smart glasses that let you control features with your voice, XPANCEO’s vision takes it several steps further, by removing the need for glasses altogether.
Seems like science fiction right? It’s not, these lenses use nanophotonics, biosensing as well as AI. From which they create an “invisible interface”, which could possibly change the way we interact with technology in the future forever.
What Can XPANCEO’s Smart Lenses Do?
There are so many mind blowing features in such a tiny device, which is so interesting, let’s break down what they do:
- Augmented Reality (AR) Display: The micro displays beam information straight into your retina. Which gives you immersive AR experiences without even using screens and headsets.
- Health Monitoring: Wait what? Yes, you read that right. These lenses actually track your eye pressure to help manage glaucoma. Furthermore, they can also analyze tear fluid for glucose, cortisol, hormones, as well as vitamins.
- Night Vision & Optical Zoom: Some lenses have these features where you can enhance low-light vision. Or even zoom at distant objects.
- Color Blindness Correction: For users with color vision deficiencies, these lenses can can adjust colors in real-time.
Why Did Investors Bet $250 Million?
Opportunity Venture (Asia) had even previously invested in XPANCEO’s earlier $40 million seed round. Following which now it has led the Series A round too, as reported by Bloomberg. How is this investment going to help XPANCEO?
- It’ll help XPANCEO finalize development of its smart lens.
- The funding will make the expanding its global R&D, product, design, and operations teams possible.
- Further it’ll assure fast-track regulatory approvals and pilot testing.
- It’ll pave a way for it’s commercial launch in healthcare, defense, industrial AR, and eventually consumer tech.
How Did XPANCEO Get Here?
Well, the story goes back to 2019 when Roman Axelrod and Dr. Volkov shared a dream of merging advanced optics with human biology. Both bought their expertise to the table. Axelrod brought his knowledge of nanophotonics and biosensing. While, Dr. Volkov got his business acumen and startup-building experience. And in just a span of 2 years they and their team developed 15 working prototypes and contributed to over 100 scientific publications.
What’s Next for XPANCEO?
With the whopping $250 funding, XPANCEO has some big plans. It plans to accelerate its vision of ending the screen era. It’s contact lenses aims to take the place of the following:
- Smartphones
- Smartwatches
- AR/VR headsets
- Fitness trackers
For the short term their plan is to focus on healthcare, industrial applications, and defense. But the long term plan? That’s laid down clearly they will be focusing on building a world where your eyes control everything. As more brands, like Snapchat with its AI Lens+, push the boundaries of augmented reality, the future of wearable tech is evolving faster than ever.
