Mojo Vision raises $22.4M as it pivots into micro-LEDs

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Mojo Vision has raised $22.4 million as it pivots from a very compelling dream to a more practical product with broad potential and slimmed-down ambitions.

The funding comes as Mojo Vision appointed new CEO Nikhil Balram and after the company laid off about 75% of its staff back in January. Previously, the company focused on making an augmented reality device built into a contact lens. It built a prototype of that lens, powered by the world’s smallest display using micro-LED technology. But in the midst of the pandemic, it couldn’t raise enough money to bring that product — complete with a software and hardware stack — to the market.

So the Saratoga, California-based company narrowed its vision. It scaled back from 120 people in January to 35 now, and it has managed to raise the $22 million funding round to commercialize its micro-LED display technology in the form of semiconductor chips for a broader market. It “decelerated” its work on the smart contact lenses, but did not kill that project entirely. Mojo Vision still holds all those patents and may revisit it someday, Balram said in an interview with VentureBeat.

“The contact lens was a very sophisticated system — an entire system with a hardware and software stack. The micro led was a critical component of that,” Balram said. “It’s a lot more straightforward, relatively. It was a critical element to do so that the contact lens could exist. But there are far fewer aspects to make a product like this.”

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