Meta View is a wholly new and unaffiliated entity, backed by Olive Tree Ventures and BNSG Capital. Olive Tree purchased the intellectual property assets from Meta Company’s lender and formed Meta View.
Mayer Gniwisch, General Partner at Olive Tree Ventures, comments: “We remain extremely bullish on the potential for spatial computing. Our belief was so strong that we did a somewhat non-traditional VC deal to acquire the assets, start a new company and find a new CEO with a vision and focus we believed in.”
The previous company developed the Meta 2 headset and its wide field-of-view (FOV) display system that provided an immersive view of digital content on the physical world. Jay Wright, former Qualcomm Vice-President, and Vuforia Co-Founder and President will take the reins as CEO of Meta View, injecting a fresh focus and experienced leadership to chart the new company on a new course.
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| Meta made a big splash with a good headset design, but maybe too big a splash. The company ran out of funding and was forced to sell. (Source: Meta) |
“The potential for spatial computing is intoxicating,” said Jay Wright, CEO Meta View. “It has fostered a highly competitive and dynamic landscape that I’ve traversed for more than a decade. This experience and insight have equipped me to identify a different approach, and I couldn’t be more excited to build a new company, a new product, and a world-class team to drive it forward.”
The new company will continue to support current owners of Meta 2 devices but will not offer the Meta 2 for sale. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, CA and is hiring for roles in San Mateo, San Diego, and Tel-Aviv.
What do we think?
Meta cut a ruthless swath through Silicon Valley with a seemingly high burn rate. Unfortunately, if there is to be a big consumer future for AR it needs a long runway. The way to success is through the industrial market and there are a lot of hopeful companies. The Osterhout Group also collapsed this year.