Tuesday, March 12th 2024

MICLEDI Microdisplays Raises Series A Funding to Advance Best-in-Class microLED Display Design and Manufacturing

MICLEDI Microdisplays today announced a first closing of its Series A funding round with participation from imec.xpand, PMV, imec, KBC and SFPIM demonstrating strong support for the company's value proposition and commercial and technological progress achieved in the seed round. Series A follows a significant seed round award and additional non-dilutive funding in the form of grants and other vehicles from VLAIO. This brings the company's total funding to date to nearly $30 million.

"The company's achievements during this seed round have been astounding," said Sean Lord, CEO of MICLEDI. "Our door is open to engagements with some of the world's largest and most innovative electronic product manufacturing companies, most of whom are working on their own internal development projects for augmented reality (AR) displays in such diverse use cases as smart-wearable devices and automotive HUDs. This level of total funding to date is almost unheard of for a four-year-old startup."
MICLEDI used the seed round to validate a unique 300 mm wafer manufacturing methodology, the first in the world at 300 mm. Seed funding also enabled the company to prove best-in-class blue and green GAN-based microLED arrays with pixel-by-pixel microlenses in its unique 300 mm flow. The company also demonstrated solid red performance using red GAN material with early proof of superior performance based on red AlInGaP. All three colors, R, G, & B, were demonstrated to large audiences at CES 2024 and SPIE AR-VR-MR 2024.

Lord added, "This newest round of funding will be used to expand the team, design and build an active backplane ASIC, and create a fully-functional microLED display module that can be used in glasses for AR displays. In addition, the new funds will help support collaboration agreements with customers and ensure that we keep pace with the growing demand for increasingly immersive video applications from Tier 1 customers and partners in the rapidly growing AR market."

Industry experts agree that GAN-based material technology is the only pathway to RGB microLED displays that are bright enough to meet the demands of AR as well as other related applications of microdisplays. MICLEDI, in conjunction with key customers, has launched specialty displays to serve these applications while continuing its primary focus on AR for consumer applications. MICLEDI and Global Foundries (GF) agree to transfer the company's unique microLED manufacturing flow into GF's CMOS fab in conjunction with backplane ASICs designed in GF's advanced CMOS process nodes, also a first in the microLED industry as part of the enablement of cost and volume demands of the burgeoning AR market.

Coming in 2024, MICLEDI will have available full-color modules with an active backplane and is developing configurations of all three basic intrinsic color arrays with quantum dot filtering on already brilliant green and blue arrays. In addition, MICLEDI will introduce its first demo glasses in the first half of 2Q24.
Source: MICLEDI
Add your own comment

5 Comments on MICLEDI Microdisplays Raises Series A Funding to Advance Best-in-Class microLED Display Design and Manufacturing

#1
LabRat 891
I'd about given up on mLED. Kinda assumed it was just an investment scam, at this point...
Posted on Reply
#2
Hyderz
will microled replace oled? i dont read much on display panels tech... but what is there to gain..
Posted on Reply
#3
LabRat 891
Hyderzwill microled replace oled? i dont read much on display panels tech... but what is there to gain..
For the time being, microLED seems to be targeted at extreme DPI small-format displays. (VR, smartwatches, AR devices, etc.)
Posted on Reply
#4
Vayra86
LabRat 891For the time being, microLED seems to be targeted at extreme DPI small-format displays. (VR, smartwatches, AR devices, etc.)
Its the right segment, neither have really landed in the consumer world and for a smartwatch you really don't need it.

This is probably going nowhere, but its nice they keep trying.
Posted on Reply
#5
Dr. Dro
Hyderzwill microled replace oled? i dont read much on display panels tech... but what is there to gain..
Supposedly the strengths of both traditional and self emissive displays without the drawbacks so, yes. It's probably not happening any time soon though and not even OLED has become exactly affordable yet, the bulk of sales in OLED panels are in the midrange (such as LG C series), with the upper range models being at least twice as expensive.

Phone-sized OLEDs have come down significantly in cost but at the budget it's still absent.
Posted on Reply
Dec 7th, 2024 15:02 CST change timezone

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts