VividQ, a UK-based startup in deeptech, has raised $15M to help develop its technology for next generation digital displays and devices. It has already lined up manufacturing partners in Japan, China, and the US to help it.The University of Tokyo's venture investment arm, UTokyo IPC led the Seed extension round. Foresight Williams Technology, a collaboration between Williams Advanced Engineering and Foresight Group, joined the round. Also, APEX Ventures was in Austria and Stanford's R42 Group VC were also present. Other investors included Essex Innovation, Sure Valley Ventures and University of Tokyo Edge Capital.This funding will be used for scaling VividQs HoloLCD technology. According to the company, it transforms consumer-grade screens into holographic display.VividQ was founded in 2017 and has worked with ARM and other partners such as Himax Technologies and Compound Photonics.The startup's technology is targeted at automotive HUD, head mounted displays (HMDs), smart glasses with a Computer Generated Holography, which projects 3D images with true depth and field.Darran Milne is the co-founder and CEO at VividQ. He said that scenes from movies, such as Star Trek to Iron Man, are closer to becoming reality than ever. VividQ is on a mission, to make holographic displays available to everyone. Our solutions bring new products to the automotive sector, improve AR experiences, as well as changing how people interact with their personal devices such mobiles and laptops.Mikio Kawahara is chief investment officer at UTokyo IPC. He stated, "The future of display will be holography." All segments of the display industry are seeing a growing demand for 3D images that can be used in real-world situations. Many consumer electronics companies will be able to realize their future goals with VividQs products.Hermann Hauser (APEX Ventures advisor and co-founder) of Arm said: Computer-Generated Holography creates immersive projections that have the same 3D information we see in the real world. VividQ could change the way people interact with digital information.Milne shared this information with me during a phone call. You can see that the image extends beyond the screen. No optical trickery is used.Holograms are essentially instructions that show how to behave. This effect is calculated algorithmically, and presented to the eye. It's indistinguishable as a real object. It's completely natural. Because your brain and visual system cannot distinguish it from reality, you are literally giving your eyes the exact same information as reality, so there is no trickery in normal sense.This could be a transformative technology that works. I can also see UltraLeap integrating it with it.
