Home technology gadgets luxexcel, a smart eyewear company, has been purchased by Meta

Luxexcel, a smart eyewear company, has been purchased by Meta

Gadgets

CIO Bulletin
2023-01-02

As the tech giant Meta faces antitrust scrutiny for its acquisition of VR fitness developer Within, it is acquiring another company. Meta has confirmed that it will acquire Luxexcel, a Dutch-based smart eyewear manufacturer.

The terms of the deal, first reported by the Belgian newspaper De Tijd, have not been made public.

Luxexcel, a company founded in 2009, uses 3D printing to produce prescription lenses for eyeglasses. Recent work has been on smart lenses, which can be printed with technology like LCD displays and holographic film already built in.

Meta and Luxexcel may have worked together before on Project Aria, the company's augmented reality (AR) research project.

In September 2021, Meta released the Ray-Ban Stories, a pair of smart glasses that can take photos and videos or make hands-free, voice-controlled calls using Meta platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp. By acquiring Luxexcel, Meta will likely use the company's technology to produce prescription augmented reality glasses, a long-anticipated product due to its billions of dollars in Reality Labs investments.

However, a summer report indicated that Meta was scaling back its 2024 plans for consumer-grade augmented reality glasses. At the time, Meta did not comment on these rumors.