Mojo Vision Raises $22.4M to Bring Micro-LED Tech to Market

Mojo Vision, a Silicon Valley-based developer of micro-LED technology, has raised $22.4 million in a series A investment round to propel the development and commercialization of its micro-LED display technology for consumer, enterprise, and government applications. Mojo Vision said it has identified market opportunities in augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), automotive, light-field display, and large-format displays, among other areas.

The company also appointed Nikhil Balram CEO. Balram previously led the display group at Mojo Vision.

Mojo Vision’s core technology centers on its proprietary high-performance quantum dot technology and encompasses a high-efficiency quantum dot ink and efficient blue micro-LED devices operating at submicrometer scale. The company said that its displays achieve up to 28,000 pixels per inch (PPI). Its display systems feature an optimized CMOS backplane and custom micro-lens optics. The company’s high-volume manufacturing uses 300-mm gallium-nitride-on-silicon wafers.

Mojo Vision has developed a three-panel architecture (RGB) that produces ultrahigh brightness with high efficiency for immersive AR headsets and glasses. The company’s design uses a micro-lens with a diameter that matches the pixel pitch and that is placed on top of a much smaller micro-LED emitter to deliver up to 5× more light flux into the entrance pupil of typical AR waveguides compared to conventional displays where the emitter size is matched to the pixel pitch.

A single RGB panel provides an ultracompact, high-brightness image source and simple driving scheme for consumer AR glasses. High-performance quantum dots pair with the monolithic technology to provide wide color gamut, stable colors, and high reliability, according to the company.

The series A investment round comes three months after the company adopted a new direction for its technology and associated development. In a Jan. 6 blog post shared by Mojo Vision on its website, company co-founder and then-CEO Drew Perkins said that the company would decelerate work on its smart contact lens technology, under development since 2015. Perkins said that the company reached the decision due to its inability to secure additional private funding to continue development of its “Mojo Lens” offering.

The micro-LED technology platform around which the company is moving forward aims to build on a 2019 development in which Mojo Vision built the original version of a monochrome display that delivered a pixel pitch of over 14,000 PPI. At the time, the display was intended to serve as a component of Mojo Lens.

Nikhil Balram has over 30 years of semiconductor and display technology experience. He most recently served as CEO at AR systems company EyeWay Vision Inc.; before that he headed the display group at Google, leading development of display systems for all Google consumer hardware products including AR/VR. Balram is former CEO at Ricoh Innovations Corp., vice president and general manager at Marvell Semiconductor, and CTO of National Semiconductor’s Display Group.

Perkins will remain chairman of the board.