Meta was a company that designed
augmented reality
Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...
products. The company was founded by
Meron Gribetz
Meron Gribetz is an Israeli technology entrepreneur. He was the founder and CEO of Meta, a Silicon Valley technology company that produced augmented reality products (the company shut down in 2019). He is currently the CEO and founder of Inner Co ...
in 2012,
based on the "Extramissive spatial imaging digital eye glass" technology invented by Gribetz and Mann originally filed with the US Patent and Trademark office Jan 3, 2013.
The company furloughed two-thirds of its approximately 100 employees in September 2018.
In 2019, the company declared itself insolvent after its primary lender
foreclosed and sold all of the company's assets.
[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.)
Products
The company's products included the Meta 1 and Meta 2 Developer Kits, headsets by which users could view and manipulate
holographic images.
History
Meta was founded by Meron Gribetz while he was a student at
Columbia University.
In 2013, Meta launched a crowd-funded
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
campaign that raised $194,444. Also in 2013, Meta was accepted into the
Y Combinator's seed accelerator program.
Steve Mann became the company's chief scientist and Steven Feiner became an adviser.
In 2014, founder Gribetz was awarded the "30 Under 30 award" in the technology category by ''
Forbes'' and Meta won best heads-up display award for the Meta Pro at the
Consumer Electronics Show
CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...
. Meta presented the Meta 1 Developer Kit with a live medical demo at 2014's TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.
In September 2014, Meta began to ship its Meta 1 Developer Kit.
In 2015, Meta received $23 million in Series-A funding from
Horizons Ventures
Sir Ka-shing Li (; born 13 June 1928) is a Hong Kong billionaire business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. As of June 2019, Li is the 31st richest person in the world, with an estimated net wealth of US$33.4 billion. He is the senior ad ...
,
Tim Draper, BOE Optoelectronics,
Garry Tan and
Alexis Ohanian of Y Combinator, Danhua Capital, Commodore Partners, and Vegas Tech Fund.
In 2016, Meta unveiled its second-generation product at a
TED conference
TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...
. The company received another $50M in venture-capital funds from
Lenovo
Lenovo Group Limited, often shortened to Lenovo ( , ), is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, Personal computer, personal computers, ...
,
Tencent, Banyan Capital, Comcast Ventures, and GQY.
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.
In 2018, Meta furloughed two-thirds of its one hundred employees after it failed to secure another round of venture capital funding.
In January 2019, Meta declared itself
insolvent after its primary lender
foreclosed and sold all the company's assets.
In May 2019, a company called Meta View announced it had acquired the intellectual property assets of Meta,
with Jay Wright, who was previously president and general manager of
Qualcomm's augmented reality division, Vuforia, chosen as CEO.
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.
See also
*
Magic Leap
References
External links
{{authority control
Augmented reality
Companies based in San Mateo County, California
Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Technology companies established in 2013
2013 establishments in California
Technology companies disestablished in 2019
2019 disestablishments in California