Snap Scoops Up WaveOptics

The UK-based company provided the AR display technology in its next-generation Spectacles

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Snap Inc. liked the augmented reality display technology used in its next-generation Spectacles camera sunglasses so much that it bought the company behind it.

Snapchat’s parent company confirmed its acquisition of WaveOptics for more than $500 million, with roughly one-half to be paid in Snap stock when the deal closes and the remainder in either cash or stock two years afterward.

U.K.-based WaveOptics is best known for waveguides, a display technology that enables virtual objects to be overlaid onto the real world via a transparent, glass-like surface and light projectors, and that technology is powering the AR display capabilities in the new Spectacles.



WaveOptics

The company’s approximately 125 employees will now report to Snap director of hardware Steen

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