Company:Meta (augmented reality company)

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Short description: Defunct Silicon Valley company (2012–2019)
Meta
TypePrivate
FateInsolvency
SuccessorMeta View (now Campfire)
Founded2012 (2012)
FounderMeron Gribetz, CEO
DefunctJanuary 2019 (2019-01)
Key people
John Werner
ProductsAugmented reality products
Websitemetavision.com

Meta was a company that designed augmented reality products. The company was founded by Meron Gribetz in 2012,[1][2] based on the "Extramissive spatial imaging digital eye glass" technology invented by Gribetz and Mann[3] originally filed with the US Patent and Trademark office Jan 3, 2013.[4]

The company furloughed two-thirds of its approximately 100 employees in September 2018.[5] In 2019, the company declared itself insolvent after its primary lender foreclosed and sold all of the company's assets.[6]

Products

The company's products included the Meta 1 and Meta 2 Developer Kits, headsets by which users could view and manipulate holographic images.[7]

History

Meta was founded by Meron Gribetz while he was a student at Columbia University.[8][2] In 2013, Meta launched a crowd-funded Kickstarter campaign that raised $194,444.[9] Also in 2013, Meta was accepted into the Y Combinator's seed accelerator program.[10][11] Steve Mann became the company's chief scientist and Steven Feiner became an adviser.[12][13]

In 2014, founder Gribetz was awarded the "30 Under 30 award" in the technology category by Forbes [14][15] and Meta won best heads-up display award for the Meta Pro at the Consumer Electronics Show.[16][17] Meta presented the Meta 1 Developer Kit with a live medical demo at 2014's TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.[18]

In September 2014, Meta began to ship its Meta 1 Developer Kit.[19][20]

In 2015, Meta received $23 million in Series-A funding from Horizons Ventures, Tim Draper, BOE Optoelectronics, Garry Tan and Alexis Ohanian of Y Combinator, Danhua Capital, Commodore Partners, and Vegas Tech Fund.[21][22]

In 2016, Meta unveiled its second-generation product at a TED conference.[23][24][25] The company received another $50M in venture-capital funds from Lenovo, Tencent, Banyan Capital, Comcast Ventures, and GQY.[26]

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.[27]

In 2018, Meta furloughed two-thirds of its one hundred employees after it failed to secure another round of venture capital funding.[5] In January 2019, Meta declared itself insolvent after its primary lender foreclosed and sold all the company's assets.[6]

In May 2019, a company called Meta View announced it had acquired the intellectual property assets of Meta,[28] with Jay Wright, who was previously president and general manager of Qualcomm's augmented reality division, Vuforia,[29] chosen as CEO.[28] 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.[30]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "META COMPANY :: Delaware (US) :: OpenCorporates". https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_de/5251878. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Farber, Dan (2013-09-09). "Meta's Meron Gribetz and the rise of the natural machine". CNET. http://www.cnet.com/news/metas-meron-gribetz-and-the-rise-of-the-natural-machine/. Retrieved 2016-02-27. 
  3. ↑ US Patent 9,720,505, "Extramissive spatial imaging digital eye glass...", Gribetz; Meron (New York, NY), Mann; W. Steve G. (Toronto, CA), filed January 3rd, 2014.
  4. ↑ US Patent and Trademark Office, Patent Application 61/748,468, Jan 3, 2013
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Wang, Selina (September 9, 2018). "Trade War Is Hurting Silicon Valley Augmented Reality Startup". https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-10/trade-war-is-hurting-silicon-valley-augmented-reality-startup. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 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.)
  7. ↑ Angley, Natalie (2013-10-31). "Glasses to make you a real-life Tony Stark". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/31/tech/innovation/meta-augmented-reality-glasses/. Retrieved 2014-11-14. 
  8. ↑ Das, Sumi (2013-10-30). "Meta's spaceglasses promise mobile augmented reality". CNET. http://www.cnet.com/news/metas-spaceglasses-promise-mobile-augmented-reality/. Retrieved 2016-02-27. 
  9. ↑ "Kickstarter: The Most Advanced Augmented Reality Glasses". Kickstarter. 2013-05-17. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/551975293/meta-the-most-advanced-augmented-reality-interface. Retrieved 2016-02-27. 
  10. ↑ Crook, Jordan (2013-08-20). "Y Combinator Summer 2013 Demo Day, Batch 2: Meet Meta, Lob, Amulyte, Weilos And More". TECHCRUNCH. https://techcrunch.com/2013/08/20/y-combinator-summer-2013-demo-day-batch-2-meet-meta-lob-amulyte-weilos-and-more/. Retrieved 2016-02-27. 
  11. ↑ Farber, Dan (2013-05-17). "Meta glasses bring 3D and your hands into the picture". CNET. http://www.cnet.com/news/meta-glasses-bring-3d-and-your-hands-into-the-picture/. Retrieved 2016-02-27. 
  12. ↑ Biggs, John (2013-05-21). "Meta, The World's First Entry-Level AR Glasses, Hires The Father Of Wearable Computing As Chief Scientist". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2013/05/21/meta-the-worlds-first-entry-level-vr-glasses-brings-on-steve-cyborg-mann-father-of-wearable-computing/. Retrieved 2016-02-29. 
  13. ↑ Cava, Marco (2013-07-30). "Change Agents: Seeing world through Meta's 3-D glasses". USATODAY. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/07/29/change-agents-meron-gribetz-meta-3d-glasses/2579315/. Retrieved 2016-02-28. 
  14. ↑ "2014 30 Under 30: Technology". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/pictures/fdef45mdfe/meron-gribetz-28-2/. Retrieved 2016-02-29. 
  15. ↑ Guglielmo, Connie (2014-01-06). "30 Under 30: Meet Technology's Smartest, Youngest And Most Daring Innovators". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2014/01/06/30-under-30-meet-technologys-smartest-youngest-and-most-daring-innovators/. Retrieved 2016-02-29. 
  16. ↑ "Best of CES 2014". Tom's Guide. 2014-06-09. http://www.tomsguide.com/us/pictures-story/624-best-ces-2014.html. Retrieved 2016-02-29. 
  17. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (2014-01-12). "The Best of CES 2014". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/12/the-best-of-ces-2014/. Retrieved 2016-02-29. 
  18. ↑ "Treating Virtual Patients with Meta and SimX". TechCrunch. 2014-09-09. https://techcrunch.com/video/treating-virtual-patients-with-meta-and-simx/518407998/. Retrieved 2016-02-29. 
  19. ↑ Donovan, Jay (2014-09-18). "Meta 1 Augmented Reality Glasses Are Dragging Us Into A VR Future". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2014/09/18/meta-1-augmented-reality-glasses-are-dragging-us-into-a-vr-future/?. Retrieved 2016-02-29. 
  20. ↑ Levy, Karyne (2014-09-18). "The World Is One Step Closer To Being Like An 'Iron Man' Movie". TechCrunch. http://www.businessinsider.com/meta-shipping-its-vr-glasses-2014-9. Retrieved 2016-02-29. 
  21. ↑ Chapman, Lizette (2015-01-28). "Augmented-Reality Headset Maker Meta Secures $23 Million". Wall Street Journal. https://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2015/01/28/augmented-reality-headset-maker-meta-secures-23-million/. Retrieved 2016-02-29. 
  22. ↑ Brewster, Signe (2015-01-28). "Meta raises $23M Series A to refine its augmented reality glasses". Gigaom. https://gigaom.com/2015/01/28/meta-raises-23m-series-a-to-refine-its-augmented-reality-glasses/. Retrieved 2016-02-29. 
  23. ↑ Wakefield, Jane (2016-02-17). "TED 2016: Meta augmented reality headset demoed at TED". BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35583356/. Retrieved 2016-02-29. 
  24. ↑ Helft, Miguel (2016-02-17). "New Augmented Reality Startup Meta Dazzles TED Crowd". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/miguelhelft/2016/02/17/new-augmented-reality-startup-meta-dazzles-ted-crowd/#7fcc96713f13/. Retrieved 2016-02-29. 
  25. ↑ Matney, Lucas (2016-03-02). "Hands-on with the $949 mind-bending Meta 2 augmented reality headset". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/02/hands-on-with-the-949-mind-bending-meta-2-augmented-reality-headset/. Retrieved 2016-03-02. 
  26. ↑ "AR startup Meta raises $50M at around $300M valuation, eyes up China". https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/13/meta-raises-another-50m-as-it-gears-up-for-the-next-version-of-its-ar-headset-and-china/. 
  27. ↑ Helft, Miguel (2016-03-02). "Startup Meta Unveils $949 Augmented Reality Headset To Rival HoloLens". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/miguelhelft/2016/03/02/startup-meta-unveils-949-augmented-reality-headset/#1252b26d6590. Retrieved 2016-03-02. 
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Roettgers, Janko (2019-05-28). "The New Owner of Meta's Assets Comes Out of Stealth, Announces CEO Appointment" (in en). https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/meta-view-ar-owner-metavision-1203226340/. 
  29. ↑ Marvin, Rob. "CES: Looking Through Augmented Reality Glasses at Our Enterprise Future" (in en). https://www.pcmag.com/article/350798/ces-looking-through-augmented-reality-glasses-at-our-enterp. 
  30. ↑ Jon Peddie (2021-07-05). "Collaborating around the Campfire with augmented reality". GraphicSpeak. https://gfxspeak.com/2021/07/05/collaborating-campfire-augmented/. 

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