Editor's note: As part of the Bay Area Inno Awards, the San Francisco Business Times and Silicon Valley Business Journal are honoring startups across the region's innovation space. Here's the honoree in the augmented reality category.
Creating a nanoscopic display that can be integrated into something akin to the everyday eyeglass is no easy feat.
Just ask Mojo Vision.
The Saratoga company is designing micro-LED displays that can be as small as the size of the tip of a pen with significantly more pixel density than an average TV screen.
The technology aims to revolutionize the $160 billion screen display industry and breathe new life into the augmented reality wearables industry, said CEO Nikhil Balram.
So far, Mojo Vision has developed the world’s highest density red, green and blue displays by using special particles called quantum dots. Its current focus is on integrating these colors to create full-color RGB displays for augmented reality glasses and other products, with the aim of bringing them to production within the next two years.
The business model involves licensing the technology for the micro-LED chips to other companies, adopting a semiconductor-like model reminiscent of successful industry giants such as Nvidia Corp., Balram said.
“We want to be the Nvidia of the micro-LED space,” Balram said. “We want to make the world’s best micro-LEDs that go into great system products that are made by some of the world’s best brands.”
Founded in 2015 by Drew Perkins, Mike Wiemer and Michael Deering, the company initially set out to create AR contact lenses. But after struggling to raise capital, Mojo Vision announced in January it would shift its focus to developing micro-LED technology, which was originally only a part of its AR contact lens project. The company downsized its staff by 75% to 35 employees.
By April, the company announced an initial $22.4 million in new Series A funding for micro-LED development and promoted Balram, who was senior vice president and general manager of micro-LED display, to president. Balram expects to announce another round of funding next month.
“The market was much more interested in things that could be brought to market sooner,” Balram said. “We still think the contact lens vision makes a lot of sense. It’s just that the micro-LED technology was something that we could bring to market sooner.”
Since Balram took the helm, Mojo Vision has successfully illuminated a unique blue micro-LED wafer, the first of its kind, and developed a small display with the highest density of red micro-LEDs worldwide. These accomplishments are especially impressive given the difficulties associated with working on such small pixels and meeting demanding brightness standards, Balram said.
While Balram would not disclose specific names or numbers, he said Mojo Vision has received interest from companies looking to purchase Mojo Vision’s micro-LED technology. The company is focusing on collaborating with unnamed industry players who have the capability to develop comprehensive hardware, software, and marketing strategies, he said.
“We’re focused on the quality of the customer,” Balram said. “We want customers that will have the most significant impact and make and grow the market, rather than trying to go and capture it ourselves.”
Ultimately, Balram’s vision for Mojo Vision is to create a new and unique market category. By leveraging its innovative display technology, with a focus on pioneering applications like VR glasses, Mojo Vision aims to disrupt the market, capture a substantial market share, and become an industry frontrunner.
“We need to help create this new category of VR glasses, where no other display technology that exists today can serve,” Balram said. “If we do that, then there’ll be this big significant new market just like LCDs have laptops, and from that we can bring it into every other display. We hope to be the tip of that spear.”
About Mojo Vision
Location: Saratoga
Industry: Augmented reality
Founders: Drew Perkins, Mike Wiemer and Michael Deering
Founded: 2015
Funding: $207.44 million according to pitchbook data, $22.4 since focusing on micro-LEDs
Major investors: NEA and Khosla Ventures, Dolby Family Ventures, Liberty Global Ventures, Fusion Fund, Drew Perkins, Open Field Capital, and Edge
Why they were chosen: Mojo Vision is showing that a startup can pivot from one attention-grabbing idea — making smart contact lenses — to another, developing micro-LED technology.
