Leuven-based Swave Photonics, a true holographic display company, today announced an additional €6 million in funding as part of a follow-on investment to the company’s Series A round for the Augmented Reality (AR) technology.
The funding was led by IAG Capital Partners and includes an investment from Samsung Ventures.
“This follow-on investment demonstrates that there is tremendous excitement for the emerging Spatial + AI Computing era, and the display technology that will help unlock what comes next,” said Mike Noonen, Swave CEO. “These funds from our existing investor IAG Capital Partners and new investor Samsung Ventures will help Swave accelerate the commercialisation and application of our novel holographic display technology at the heart of next-generation spatial computing platforms.”
Founded in 2022, the company spun-out from Imec and utilises CMOS chip technology for manufacturing. Swave develops chipsets to deliver reality-first spatial computing powered by AI. The company’s Holographic eXtended Reality (HXR) display technology claims to be the first to achieve true holography by sculpting lightwaves into natural, high-resolution images.
The proprietary technology aims to allow compact form factors with a natural viewing experience.
Swave’s HXR technology uses diffractive photonics on CMOS chip-based technology to create the “world’s smallest pixel“, which shapes light to sculpt high-quality 3D images. This technology effectively eliminates the need for a waveguide, and by enabling 3D visualisation and interaction, Swave’s platform is positioned to transform spatial computing across multiple display use cases and form factors.
Swave announced its €27 million Series A funding round in January 2025 (as reported by EU-Startups), which followed Swave’s €10 million Seed round in 2023 (also reported by EU-Startups). This additional funding will support the continued development of Swave’s HXR technology, as well as expanding the company’s go to market efforts.
According to Swave, AR devices currently being prototyped or on the market are all faced with challenges of high cost, uncomfortable size and weight, significant power usage, and visual phenomena like Vergence-Accomodation Conflict, which cause nausea or fatigue for users.
Whereas they argue, that Swave’s HXR technology not only solves these issues, but also eliminates the need for the most costly components, such as waveguides or varifocal lenses, inherently required for existing AR devices.
In addition to this new funding, Swave is announcing the appointment of Derek Jensen as CFO and Head of Corporate Development.
Jensen brings experience in financial operations, corporate development, and key technology sectors like AR, smart devices, and semiconductors. He was most recently the Chief Financial Officer of SK Growth Opportunities Corp., where he also served as a board member, leading a multi-billion-dollar merger that facilitated a new public NASDAQ listing.
“Swave is building breakthrough technology that will accelerate the adoption of smartglasses and other emerging spatial computing form factors,” said Jensen. “I’m proud to join a team that’s pushing the boundaries of what semiconductor, holographic and AI technologies can do to deliver more reality-first user experiences.”
“Derek’s invaluable expertise in finance, technology, and operational rigor arrives at a pivotal moment for Swave,” added Noonen. “His leadership will be a driving force in helping us maximise our opportunity in this new era of spatial and AI computing.”
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/06/belgian-swave-photonics-bags-an-additional-e6-million-for-their-ar-technology/
