Google Inc has invested 15 million USD for a 13 percent stake in Glo, a university spin-out focused on creating nanowire-based LED-displays for mobile phones and smart watches as well as AR- and VR-applications.
The Swedish news agency Rapidus has obtained documents from Glo showing that a share issue directed solely towards Google Inc. took place during the summer.
Glo, located in Silicon Valley and Lund, Sweden, has been commercializing its technology for creating direct view displays consisting of nanowire-based LEDs since 2008. Over the years the company has attracted close to 140 million USD from a series of heavy-weight investors including Wellington Partners and Sweden-based Foundation Asset Management.
Glo’s display technology is an example of what the industry refers to as micro LED, giving better contrast and lower power consumption than LCD screens while yielding higher overall brightness than OLED. The last few years, both Apple and Facebook-owned Oculus have acquired start-up companies within the field of micro LED.
The small diode size of micro LED-displays makes it possible to increase the resolution on very small screens, for example in smart watches or VR- and AR-goggles like Google Glass.
Rapidus has been unable to reach Glo’s CEO Fariba Danesh or chairman Ajit Nazre for comment on the funding round. According to Glo’s annual report for 2016, the company is expecting a total of 45 million dollars from this funding round, partly dependent on certain mileposts being reached.
Glo’s technology is originally based on extensive research conducted at the Center for Nanoscience at Lund University.
Erik Olausson
