Light Field Lab is a technology company.
Light Field Lab has raised $85.0M across 3 funding rounds.
Light Field Lab has raised $85.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Light Field Lab has raised $85.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Light Field Lab's investors include EQT Ventures, Owen Lozman, Samsung Ventures, Sorenson Ventures, ACME Capital, ALPANA Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Deep Valley Labs, General Catalyst, InterWest, Khosla Ventures, Plug & Play Ventures.
Light Field Lab is a technology company founded in 2017 that develops SolidLight, a holographic display platform creating glasses-free 3D holograms by reconstructing light fields with massive viewing angles, mimicking real-world optics.[1][2][3] It serves entertainment, advertising, corporate installations, medical holography, cinemas, performance events, and industries like travel, tourism, manufacturing, and space, solving the limitations of 2D screens and headset-bound VR/AR by enabling true wavefront holograms viewable from any angle without accessories.[1][2][3][4] Backed by investors including Khosla Ventures, Gates Frontier, Samsung Ventures, and others like Bosch, Comcast, and Verizon, the company is scaling from prototypes to pilot lines for large-scale wall-sized displays producing up to 10 billion pixels per square meter.[1][2][3][4]
Light Field Lab was co-founded in 2017 by Jon Karafin (CEO, ex-Digital Domain), Brendan Bevensee (CTO, PhD in particle physics from Hadron Collider work), and Ed Ibe (strong mechanical engineering background from IBM), all veterans of Lytro Cinema's high-end light field technology leadership team.[1][3] The idea emerged from their expertise in light field innovation, aiming to pioneer a holographic future by recreating "real images" via optical physics—controlling photon convergence in space for floating 3D objects without glasses or headgear.[1][3] Early traction included a $7 million seed round led by Khosla Ventures and Sherpa Capital (with R7 Partners), funding prototypes of revolutionary light field display monitors.[3]
Light Field Lab rides the spatial computing and immersive display wave, transitioning from headset-dependent AR/VR/MR to untethered holography, aligning with trends in metaverse, remote collaboration, and experiential media post-2020s XR hype.[2][3][4] Timing is ideal amid medical holography growth (29% CAGR to 2029) and patents in cinemas/events, fueled by AI-driven content creation and demand for 2D screen alternatives in a post-pandemic world craving physical-like interactions.[1][4] Market forces like corporate investments from Samsung, Verizon, and Comcast favor it, positioning Light Field Lab to influence ecosystems by enabling holographic advertising, surgeries, tourism visuals, and space simulations—potentially redefining displays as the "next generation of monitors."[3]
Light Field Lab is advancing its pilot production line for large-scale SolidLight deployments, targeting 2025-2026 launches in entertainment venues, corporate spaces, and medical applications amid rising holography demand.[1][4] Trends like AI-optimized wavefront compute, edge deployment for real-time holograms, and partnerships with media giants (e.g., NCSOFT, OTOY) will propel scaling, while competition from Meta/Apple XR could push interoperability standards.[2][3] Its influence may evolve from niche innovator to ecosystem enabler, powering holographic infrastructure much like GPUs transformed graphics—unleashing business models in immersive experiences that make "real images" as ubiquitous as flat screens today.[1][3][4] This positions it at the forefront of a holographic future, directly advancing the optical physics recreation teased in its founding mission.[1]
Light Field Lab has raised $85.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $50.0M Series B in February 2023.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 1, 2023 | $50.0M Series B | EQT Ventures, Owen Lozman, Samsung Ventures, Sorenson Ventures | |
| Aug 1, 2019 | $28.0M Series A | ACME Capital, ALPANA Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Deep Valley Labs, General Catalyst, InterWest, Khosla Ventures, Plug & Play Ventures, Samsung Ventures, Wing Venture Capital, Y Combinator, David Scacco, Georges Harik, Richard Chen | |
| Jan 1, 2018 | $7.0M Seed | ACME Capital, ALPANA Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Deep Valley Labs, General Catalyst, InterWest, Khosla Ventures, Plug & Play Ventures, Samsung Ventures, Wing Venture Capital, Y Combinator, David Scacco, Georges Harik, Richard Chen |