EINDHOVEN (THE NETHERLANDS)- September 28th , 2017 – Luxexcel announces that it has received an equity investment of 4M EUR (4.7M USD) from Innovation Industries, a Netherlands based Venture Capital fund. The investment enables Luxexcel to accelerate the next-gen development of its 3D printing platform for prescription lenses for use in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality applications.

Recently Luxexcel announced a 8.5M EUR(10M USD) investment for its core activities in the ophthalmic industry (including participation from SET Ventures, Munich Venture Partners, PMV and KLA-Tencor). The first industrial grade 3D printing platforms are being installed this year in the USA and Europe. The additional 4M EUR (4.7M USD) investment will be used for rapid expansion of the Luxexcel platform-functionality through dedicated (co-)development programs and partnerships in the domain of Augmented & Virtual Reality also known as AR/VR. AR/VR applications include smart glasses that provide the user with real time information for professional and personal use, gaming applications including control consoles for drones (fpv), sensors and cameras integrated in eyewear.

Hans Streng, Chief Executive Officer of Luxexcel states: “AR/VR applications have become a hot topic in the industry.  We add the ability to 3D-print ophthalmic-quality prescription lenses to these applications. This enables the AR/VR headset manufacturers to offer fully personalized smart eyewear in an attractive frame design. The ability of our platform to 3D-print ophthalmic lenses in any shape or form and the possibility to embed new functionalities in the lens triggers entirely new dimensions in terms of user-experience and business opportunity.”

Nard Sintenie, Founding Partner at Innovation Industries BV says“ We believe that with the technology of Luxexcel it will be possible to combine AR/VR applications with RX eye correction, which is an essential component in bringing smart eye wear to the mainstream market. We are excited about leveraging the high tech network in the Netherlands to enable this unique breakthrough.”

Luxexcel Vision Platform: opportunities for all stakeholders

The Luxexcel Vision platform offers opportunities for both ophthalmic labs and AR/VR headset manufacturers. Ophthalmic labs use the Luxexcel Vision Platform to 3D print custom AR/VR lenses. The Luxexcel Vision Platform is fully integrated in today’s ophthalmic lab flow. This opens up a new industry lens segment for ophthalmic labs .

AR/VR headset manufacturers have the opportunity to commercialize AR/VR headsets with personalized prescription lenses included. By making use of the Luxexcel Vision Platform lens customization becomes accessible to AR/VR headset manufacturers.

The Luxexcel platform consists of industrial grade optical 3D-printer, lens-design software, ophthalmic quality print materials and workflow integration tools which enables customers to manufacture 3D printed ophthalmic quality lenses that meet all industry standards.