Millions of people with presbyopia struggle with inconvenient, limited traditional eyewear like bifocals and progressives, which restrict vision and require frequent switching between glasses. IXI, a Finnish-based hardware company, is developing the world’s first autofocus glasses that automatically adjust focus in real time, providing seamless, clear vision at any distance without manual intervention or multiple pairs of glasses.
Today, IXI has raised $36.5 million in its Series A funding round, led by Plural, with participation from Tesi, byFounders, Heartcore, Eurazeo, FOV Ventures, Tiny Supercomputer, and IXI’s existing investors. The funding will enable IXI to complete the development of IXI Adaptive Eyewear and launch commercial operations.
Breaking traditional eyewear boundaries with smart technology
IXI was founded in 2021 in Espoo, Finland, by Niko Eiden (CEO) and Ville Miettinen (Chief Algorithm Officer), serial entrepreneurs who previously co-founded Varjo, a mixed reality company. They started IXI to address the lack of innovation in the eyewear industry and solve the growing problem of presbyopia and multifocal vision needs. Their goal: to create adaptive eyewear that provides seamless, optimal vision using real-time, intelligent lens technology.
Niko Eiden, co-founder and CEO of IXI, said: “Eyewear is the world’s oldest wearable, rooted in centuries of brilliance across science, design, and craftsmanship. That being said, it’s incredible that we haven’t seen more technology leaps, leaving millions of people forced to compromise on how they see the world. The time for change is now. We’re creating a whole new era in vision technology — and we can’t wait to show the world what’s to come. Backed by investors who see the scale of this opportunity, we’re ready to redefine what eyewear can be.”
IXI is disrupting the $200 billion eyewear market with dynamic lenses that automatically adapt to the wearer’s eyes. Its technology provides a broader field of view in a product that works as nature intended the human eye to work. IXI is creating a new category of eyewear, featuring unique real-time and ultra-low-power eye tracking, as well as state-of-the-art dynamic lens technology. The result is an elegant design that redefines what advanced vision tech can look and feel like.
The company’s mission is to break the centuries-old limits of traditional eyewear. Conventional progressive lenses force wearers to compromise with narrow fields of view, peripheral distortion, and difficulty seeing clearly at varying distances. As global populations age, presbyopia diagnoses increase, and millions face significant compromises in multi-focal vision, turning an already widespread challenge into a looming global issue.
Behind IXI: where style meets innovation
IXI is positioning its product not as an assistive device but as a premium lifestyle accessory. By partnering with luxury eyewear designers, IXI ensures that its smart glasses are indistinguishable from high-end fashion frames, a crucial factor in a market where style is a top purchasing consideration.
Unlike most eye-tracking systems that rely on power-hungry cameras, IXI has developed a proprietary method using infrared sensors embedded directly into the lenses to detect eye convergence — the angle at which the eyes focus inward when looking at nearby objects. A microcontroller in the nose bridge processes this data and adjusts the liquid crystal lenses in real-time.
The system uses less than 1% of the energy required by camera-based trackers, enabling all-day battery life via tiny cells in the temples. Additionally, because IXI’s sensors measure only convergence angles and not facial images, there are no data privacy risks associated with the system.
During development, IXI worked with professionals who require rapid focus shifts, such as aircraft pilots and auto mechanics. Pilots tested prototypes to seamlessly switch focus between cockpit instruments and runway views, while mechanics inspired IXI’s “dynamic tilt compensation” feature, which adjusts lenses when users look upward.
Miniaturising the technology required breakthroughs, such as laser-etched liquid crystal layers (replacing bulky mechanical lenses with flat, tunable optical films) and custom silicon chips that handle real-time adjustments without overheating. As CEO, Eiden notes, “Five years ago, this tech couldn’t exist—we’re riding the coattails of smartwatch component scaling.”
Sten Tamkivi, Partner at Plural, said: “Niko, Ville, and the team’s rare European hardware expertise puts them at the forefront of advanced optics and eye-tracking developments. They’re creating beautiful, literally invisible technology that pioneers a new approach to vision, which will finally improve human eyesight once and for all. By backing IXI, we’re not just investing in a company but in a future where technology revolutionises how we see the world.”
While IXI’s initial focus is on age-related vision correction, its adaptive lens platform could expand to dynamic astigmatism correction, fatigue compensation, and even integration with VR/AR headsets — opening new frontiers in vision technology.
