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Meta (augmented reality company)

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This article is about the defunct augmented reality (AR) company. For the AR brand owned by Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.), see Reality Labs.
Meta
Company typePrivate
Founded2012 (2012)
FounderMeron Gribetz, CEO
DefunctJanuary 2019 (2019-01)
FateInsolvency
SuccessorMeta View (now Campfire)
Key people
John Werner
ProductsAugmented reality products
Websitemetavision.com

Meta was a company that designed augmented reality products. The company was founded by Meron Gribetz in 2012,[1][2] based on the "Extramissive spatial imaging digital eye glass" technology invented by Gribetz and Mann[3] originally filed with the US Patent and Trademark office Jan 3, 2013.[4]

The company furloughed two-thirds of its approximately 100 employees in September 2018.[5] In 2019, the company declared itself insolvent after its primary lender foreclosed and sold all of the company's assets.[6]

Products

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The company's products included the Meta 1 and Meta 2 Developer Kits, headsets with which users could view and manipulate computer-generated images using optical see-through displays.[7]

History

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Meta was founded by Meron Gribetz while he was a student at Columbia University.[8][2] In 2013, Meta launched a crowd-funded Kickstarter campaign that raised $194,444.[9] Also in 2013, Meta was accepted into the Y Combinator's seed accelerator program.[10][11] Steve Mann became the company's chief scientist and Steven Feiner became an adviser.[12][13]

In 2014, founder Gribetz was awarded the "30 Under 30 award" in the technology category by Forbes[14][15] and Meta won best heads-up display award for the Meta Pro at the Consumer Electronics Show.[16][17] Meta presented the Meta 1 Developer Kit with a live medical demo at 2014's TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.[18]

In September 2014, Meta began to ship its Meta 1 Developer Kit.[19][20]

In 2015, Meta received $23 million in Series-A funding from Horizons Ventures, Tim Draper, BOE Optoelectronics, Garry Tan and Alexis Ohanian of Y Combinator, Danhua Capital, Commodore Partners, and Vegas Tech Fund.[21][22]

In 2016, Meta unveiled its second-generation product at a TED conference.[23][24][25] The company received another $50M in venture-capital funds from Lenovo, Tencent, Banyan Capital, Comcast Ventures, and GQY.[26]

In March 2016, it announced the launch of the Meta 2 at the $949 to compete with the Microsoft HoloLens, which retailed for $3000. However, the Meta 2 would be a tethered and would require an external PC whereas the Hololens was a standalone product.[27]

In 2018, Meta furloughed two-thirds of its one hundred employees after it failed to secure another round of venture capital funding.[5] In January 2019, Meta declared itself insolvent after its primary lender foreclosed and sold all the company's assets.[6]

In May 2019, a company called Meta View announced it had acquired the intellectual property assets of Meta,[28] with Jay Wright, who was previously president and general manager of Qualcomm's augmented reality division, Vuforia,[29] chosen as CEO.[28] In July 2021, the company announced a new name, Campfire, and its plans to release a 3D collaboration system for design and engineering later that year.[30]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "META COMPANY :: Delaware (US) :: OpenCorporates".
  2. ^ a b Farber, Dan (2013-09-09). "Meta's Meron Gribetz and the rise of the natural machine". CNET. Retrieved 2016-02-27.
  3. ^ US Patent 9,720,505, "Extramissive spatial imaging digital eye glass...", Gribetz; Meron (New York, NY), Mann; W. Steve G. (Toronto, CA), filed January 3rd, 2014.
  4. ^ US Patent and Trademark Office, Patent Application 61/748,468, Jan 3, 2013
  5. ^ a b Wang, Selina (September 9, 2018). "Trade War Is Hurting Silicon Valley Augmented Reality Startup". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  6. ^ a b Strange, Adario (January 11, 2019) AR Startup Meta Company Shuts Down Amid Asset Foreclosure Sale, Patent Fight, & Executive Departures Next Reality News. (Retrieved January 12, 2019.)
  7. ^ Angley, Natalie (2013-10-31). "Glasses to make you a real-life Tony Stark". CNN. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
  8. ^ Das, Sumi (2013-10-30). "Meta's spaceglasses promise mobile augmented reality". CNET. Retrieved 2016-02-27.
  9. ^ "Kickstarter: The Most Advanced Augmented Reality Glasses". Kickstarter. 2013-05-17. Retrieved 2016-02-27.
  10. ^ Crook, Jordan (2013-08-20). "Y Combinator Summer 2013 Demo Day, Batch 2: Meet Meta, Lob, Amulyte, Weilos And More". TECHCRUNCH. Retrieved 2016-02-27.
  11. ^ Farber, Dan (2013-05-17). "Meta glasses bring 3D and your hands into the picture". CNET. Retrieved 2016-02-27.
  12. ^ Biggs, John (2013-05-21). "Meta, The World's First Entry-Level AR Glasses, Hires The Father Of Wearable Computing As Chief Scientist". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  13. ^ Cava, Marco (2013-07-30). "Change Agents: Seeing world through Meta's 3-D glasses". USATODAY. Retrieved 2016-02-28.
  14. ^ "2014 30 Under 30: Technology". Forbes. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  15. ^ Guglielmo, Connie (2014-01-06). "30 Under 30: Meet Technology's Smartest, Youngest And Most Daring Innovators". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  16. ^ "Best of CES 2014". Tom's Guide. 2014-06-09. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  17. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (2014-01-12). "The Best of CES 2014". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  18. ^ "Treating Virtual Patients with Meta and SimX". TechCrunch. 2014-09-09. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  19. ^ Donovan, Jay (2014-09-18). "Meta 1 Augmented Reality Glasses Are Dragging Us Into A VR Future". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  20. ^ Levy, Karyne (2014-09-18). "The World Is One Step Closer To Being Like An 'Iron Man' Movie". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  21. ^ Chapman, Lizette (2015-01-28). "Augmented-Reality Headset Maker Meta Secures $23 Million". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  22. ^ Brewster, Signe (2015-01-28). "Meta raises $23M Series A to refine its augmented reality glasses". Gigaom. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  23. ^ Wakefield, Jane (2016-02-17). "TED 2016: Meta augmented reality headset demoed at TED". BBC. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  24. ^ Helft, Miguel (2016-02-17). "New Augmented Reality Startup Meta Dazzles TED Crowd". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  25. ^ Matney, Lucas (2016-03-02). "Hands-on with the $949 mind-bending Meta 2 augmented reality headset". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  26. ^ "AR startup Meta raises $50M at around $300M valuation, eyes up China". Techcrunch.
  27. ^ Helft, Miguel (2016-03-02). "Startup Meta Unveils $949 Augmented Reality Headset To Rival HoloLens". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  28. ^ a b Roettgers, Janko (2019-05-28). "The New Owner of Meta's Assets Comes Out of Stealth, Announces CEO Appointment". Variety. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  29. ^ Marvin, Rob. "CES: Looking Through Augmented Reality Glasses at Our Enterprise Future". PCMAG. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  30. ^ Jon Peddie (2021-07-05). "Collaborating around the Campfire with augmented reality". GraphicSpeak. Retrieved 2021-10-30.
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