SARATOGA, CA — Mojo Vision announced that it has raised $45 million in support of its smart contact lens technology.
The Series B-1 round includes investments from Amazon Alexa Fund, PTC, Edge Investments, HiJoJo Partners, and others. Existing investors NEA, Liberty Global Ventures, Advantech Capital, AME Cloud Ventures, Dolby Family Ventures, Motorola Solutions and Open Field Capital also participated.
The new investment brings Mojo’s total funding to $205 million.
The company also announced partnerships with sports and fitness brands “to collaborate on next-generation user experiences that combine augmented reality, wearable technology and personal performance data,” according to a press release. The companies will work together using Mojo’s smart contact lens technology, Mojo Lens, “to find unique ways to improve access to data and enhance athletes’ performance during sporting activities.”
Mojo Lens overlays images, symbols and text on users’ natural field of vision without obstructing their view, restricting mobility or hindering social interactions. Mojo calls this experience “Invisible Computing.”
“Through its ongoing consumer market analysis, Mojo Vision has identified an opportunity in the wearables market to deliver performance data and real-time stats to data-conscious athletes like runners, cyclists, gym users, golfers and more through Mojo Lens’ intuitive hands-free, eye-controlled user interface,” the release explained.
The company’s initial partnerships include: Adidas Running (running/training), Trailforks (cycling, hiking/outdoors), Wearable X (yoga), Slopes (snow sports) and 18Birdies (golf).
“We are making important progress in developing our smart contact lens technology, and we continue to research and identify new market potential for this groundbreaking platform,” said Steve Sinclair, senior vice president of product and marketing for Mojo Vision. “Our partnerships with these leading brands will give us valuable insights into user behavior in the sports and fitness market. The goal is for these collaborations to deliver athletes an entirely new form factor with performance data that is more accessible and useful in the moment.”
In addition to the sports and wearable tech market, Mojo is planning an early application of its product to help people struggling with vision impairment by using enhanced image overlays.
Mojo Vision is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration through its Breakthrough Devices Program, a voluntary program designed to provide safe and timely access to medical devices that can help treat irreversibly debilitating diseases or conditions, according to the release.