Espoo-based startup IXI has secured $36.5 million in funding to advance the development and commercial launch of its autofocus eyewear, designed to dynamically adjust focus based on the wearer’s eye movements. The investment was led by London-based investment fund Plural, with participation from Tesi, Heartcore, FOV Ventures, and byFounders; French private equity firm Eurazeo; and German investment company Tiny Supercomputer. IXI’s existing investors, which include Amazon Alexa Fund, Maki.vc, First Fellow Partners, firstminute capital, Illusian Founder Office, David Helgason, Ilkka Paananen, John Lindfors and Bragiel Brothers also participated in the round. IXI plans to use the capital to finalize its first-generation product and begin commercial operations. IXI aims to address the limitations of traditional progressive lenses with real-time, low-power adaptive optics in a design-conscious frame, targeting a global eyewear market valued at $200 billion.
Founded in 2021 by a pioneering team of wearable technology, optics and industrial design, IXI is disrupting the $200 billion eyewear market with dynamic lenses that automatically adapt to the wearer’s eyes. Its technology will provide a wider field of view in a product that works just as nature intended your eyes to work. IXI is creating a new category of eyewear, featuring unique real-time and ultra-low-power eye tracking and state-of-the-art dynamic lens technology. The result is an elegant design that redefines what advanced vision tech can look and feel like.
The company is on a mission to finally break the limits of traditional eyewear; limits which have remained in place for centuries. Traditional progressive lenses force wearers to compromise: narrow fields of view, peripheral distortion, and difficulty seeing clearly at varying distances are common trade-offs. As global populations age, presbyopia diagnoses increase and millions face significant compromises in multi-focal vision, turning an already widespread challenge into a looming global issue.
Niko Eiden, co-founder and CEO of IXI, said: “Eyewear is the world’s oldest wearable, rooted in centuries of brilliance across science, design and craftsmanship. That being said, it’s incredible that we haven’t seen more technology leaps, leaving millions of people forced to compromise on how they see the world. The time for change is now. We’re creating a whole new era in vision tech—and we can’t wait to show the world what’s coming. Backed by investors who see the scale of this opportunity, we’re ready to redefine what eyewear can be.”
IXI’s founders, Niko Eiden (CEO) and Ville Miettinen (Chief Algorithm Officer) previously co-founded the premium mixed reality hardware startup, Varjo. Their experience in advanced optics and eye-tracking solutions inspired them to create a new kind of eyewear that truly solves the challenge of vision correction and liberates people from poor eyesight.
Sten Tamkivi, Partner at Plural, said: “Niko, Ville and the team’s rare European hardware expertise puts them at the forefront of advanced optics and eye-tracking developments. They’re creating beautiful, literally invisible technology that pioneers a new approach to vision which will finally improve human eyesight once and for all. By backing IXI, we’re not just investing in a company, but in a future where technology revolutionises how we see the world.”
Click to read more funding news.
Read the orginal article: https://arcticstartup.com/ixi-raises-36-5-million/
