Augmented reality contact lens developer Mojo Vision announced $45 million in new funding and said it has partnered with Adidas and several other fitness brands such as, Trailforks, Wearable X, Slopes and 18Birdies, to bring its data-tracking eye lens into the consumer market. The new funding brings the company’s total investment to $205 million.
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The Mojo Lens, a smart contact lens, is a microLED display that you could place in your eye to correct your vision and overlay information onto the physical world. For example, the gadget can show you trails on a ski slope, the pace you are running at, or notes for a presentation.
Mojo is envisioning a world where data can be served up without a bulky wearable or forcing the athlete to look down at their device. The partnerships indicate that the company is going after sports as an early market for its technology, in addition to other applications, like assistance for the visually impaired.
“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. 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 at the moment,” said Steve Sinclair, SVP, product and marketing, Mojo Vision.
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Mojo Vision said recent research from the International Data Corporation (IDC) shows global wearables shipments grew 32.3 percent year-over-year from 2020/21. This growth in the wearable tech market is led by companies that continue to refine and release fitness trackers, smartwatches, smartphone apps, and other wearable devices, mainly to better the user experience for sports and fitness enthusiasts, reports SGB Media.
“Today’s wearable devices can be helpful to athletes, but they can also distract them from the focus of the activity; we think there’s a better way to deliver athletic performance data,” said David Hobbs, senior director of product management at Mojo Vision.
