Paris-based virtual and augmented reality company Lynx has grabbed $4 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Somnium Space, a social VR platform along with participation of investors involved in the AR and VR field, including ex-Meta and Google engineers.
In addition to the investment, Artur Sychov, Founder & CEO of Somnium Space, has joined the board of directors of the Lynx.
The French mixed reality company has raised the investment to push the boundaries and potential of the VR/AR industry forward.
At Somnium Space we truly believe in the future of open and decentralized Metaverse which empowers its users. This includes, not only software, but also very importantly hardware. The Lynx team led by Stan has created an extraordinary AR / VR device (Lynx-r) with openness in mind which will change and revolutionize the way we all think and interact with this market category,” said Artur Sychov, Founder & CEO of Somnium Space.
“We have this opportunity right here to create the European Champion of Mixed Reality with our work at Lynx, supported by a vibrant community of users and developers desperate to see alternatives to Big Tech companies products and their closed ecosystems.” said Stan Larroque, founder and CEO of Lynx. “What’s the point of creating a European Metaverse if the underlying platform, the door we use to access it, remains in the hands of the same big players with their damaging business models?”
Lynx R-1: All-in-One Mixed Reality headset
Lynx was founded by Stan Larroque in 2019 in Paris. It created its first product, Lynx R-1, the first standalone Mixed Reality device. It features all the bells and whistles one can expect from state-of-the-art Metaverse hardware, including large field of view, spatial audio, hand-tracking, high-quality 6DoF and colour passthrough for Augmented and Virtual Reality applications, built on top of Qualcomm XR2 technology.
The headset also ditches the standard Fresnel lenses for a novel optic called a “four-fold catadioptric freeform prism.” This is said to slim down the size of Lynx R-1 beyond what current Fresnels can do.
Notably, the Lynx R1 Headset comes in two variants. The Standard Edition is priced at $599 and the Enterprise Edition is priced at $1,099. The company also sells a pair of 6DOF controllers, VR Facial Interface for both the editions, and a travel case.
Recent milestones!
Lynx works with the best technological companies on the planet like Qualcomm, Ultraleap, Nvidia and others to deliver a new paradigm of man-machine interface that will transform how we game, work, and communicate.
The company has developed key partnerships with suppliers and distributors worldwide for the upcoming launch and deliveries of Lynx R-1. With this Mixed Reality headset, the French company directly competes against AR/VR products coming from the biggest US and Chinese tech companies.
In the past few months, Lynx completed a successful and highly anticipated Kickstarter campaign. Also, it completed its office expansion in Paris to include a 200 square metre of R&D and established a new office in Taiwan.
