The smart glasses market is growing quickly, but it has a key problem. While demand is increasing and top products are selling well, many devices can’t expand beyond small launches. Issues with optics and power usage are delaying mass production.
Here’s where Lausanne-based AlphaLum comes into play. It develops high-efficiency holographic display optics and miniature sensing technologies for AR, MR, and spatial computing.
The Swiss deep-tech startup has raised CHF 3.4 million in a seed funding round led by Vsquared Ventures.
“With this round, we are preparing the next phase of industrialisation and strengthening our role as a core technology supplier for future smart-glasses platforms,” said Markus Rossi, CEO and co-founder of AlphaLum.
Tackling the bottlenecks holding AR back
AlphaLum was founded as a spin-out from ams OSRAM’s corporate incubator and was designed from the start for scalability and high-volume manufacturing.
Led by Markus Rossi, a serial entrepreneur who previously exited Heptagon as CIO to ams AG in 2017, the company develops ultra-efficient augmented reality displays and ultra-low-power, always-on optical sensing technologies.
“Having previously founded and built our own companies, we brought an entrepreneurial mindset into the corporate innovation environment and recognised that achieving this vision would require moving faster and taking full ownership of execution. Spinning out allowed us to focus entirely on enabling AR glasses that can meaningfully complement and ultimately even replace smartphones,” says Markus Rossi to TFN.
As a result, the company’s design is to make smart glasses lighter, more energy-efficient, and easier to manufacture at high volumes.
How does it work?
The Swiss company combines two tightly integrated technologies — holographic optical combiners and ultra-low-power interferometric laser sensors. Its ultra-thin, invisible optical layer reduces light loss between the projector and the human eye.
According to the company, this delivers more than 10 times the optical efficiency of conventional waveguides while also lowering system costs.
AlphaLum has a motion-sensing system that allows hands-free interaction without using power-hungry cameras. This setup delivers clear, high-quality images and enables easy augmented reality (AR) interactions, which are important for mainstream adoption.
According to Rossi, the main competitors in the AR display market are companies developing holographic and surface-relief-grating (SRG) waveguide technologies. Notable players include Magic Leap, Dispelix, and Lumus. These waveguide technologies encounter challenges related to optical efficiency, colour uniformity, and the need for cost-effective, scalable manufacturing. Their polymer-based approach aims to tackle these issues.
In terms of eye tracking, the primary competition consists of camera-based solutions currently used in AR and XR devices. These methods struggle to balance continuous operation, high accuracy, and the low power consumption required for lightweight AI glasses.
Their solution enables OEM eye-tracking systems to operate continuously with high accuracy while consuming minimal power, thanks to the integration of a compact sensor stack.
What about diversity?
On diversity, Rossi comments, “30 team members, 1 female Co-Founder (Tanja Koch), Gender Mix 75 / 25% and 12 Nationalities.”
What’s next?
The company will use the funds to scale its optics and sensing platform for smart glasses and spatial computing, and to transition from advanced engineering to a core supplier role for smart glasses manufacturers.
Benedikt von Schoeler, General Partner at Vsquared Ventures, adds, “AlphaLum is building foundational technology for one of the most important computing transitions ahead. Smart glasses are already a reality – the next step is to make them available at scale. AlphaLum is the player targeting the technological bottlenecks to enable this, and we are looking forward to partnering on this journey.”
