Raysolve, a leading Micro-LED startup announced today that it raised US$10 million in Pre-Series A financing. The new funding will be used to scale up advanced R&D and initiate production of the world’s first standardized full-color micro-LED micro-display. Raysolve has successfully raised nearly US$15 million (RMB100 million) of Angel and Pre-Series A financing within half a year. These fundings will enhance the company’s ability to bring the world’s first standardized full-color Micro-LED micro-display to meet the pressing need by first-tier manufacturers for both the domestic and international markets. This will be an important piece of development that supports the growth of augmented reality (AR) wearable technology and development of Metaverse.
The financing is led by Gaorong Capital along with Glory Ventures. Taihe Capital acted as exclusive financial advisor. Source Code Capital is the sole angel investor of Raysolve.
Founded in 2019, Raysolve is dedicated to the R&D of Micro-LED micro-display technology, in particular chip architecture, fabrication processes and the development of single-chip, full-color technology. The core team stemmed from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) with decades of experience in the design and manufacturing of cutting-edge microchips. The team announced the world’s first single-chip full-color Micro-LED micro-display in Silicon Valley in 2019.
Raysolve believes that while AR is the natural choice for entering the metaverse, it is significantly hindered by the weight and inconvenience of the current AR “helmet” wearable as well as the low brightness of the displays that largely restricts their applications. True interaction with the virtual world under real-life applications as visualized in the movie Free Guy can only be realized through lightweight consumer-level AR glasses.
Dr. Wing Cheung CHONG, the founder and CEO of Raysolve, said, “Leveraging on the advancement of GaN, Raysolve has developed a suite of world-leading technologies and solutions in single-chip, full-color, micro-LED display. Our micro-LED micro-display offers ultra-high efficiency, contrast and brightness, as well as small footprints, low energy consumption, low packaging costs, together with many other advantages.” Dr. Chong emphasized that most of the other Micro-LED micro-display developers still utilize the flip-chip architecture, where the limitations in alignment accuracy and pixel size prohibit the technology from achieving the ultra-high pixel density required for high-resolution micro-display such as AR smart glasses. Raysolve’s proprietary technology in large-size epitaxial wafer bonding not only ensures ultra-high pixel density and high productivity, it further enhances the performance and energy efficiency of the chips, which forms a key technological barrier between Raysolve and its competitors.
It is important to understand that there are two technical routes in the field of micro-LED. The first one utilizes mass transfer technologies to achieve ultra-high pixels and resolution, but this technology is not applicable for micro-displays. The second route adopts semiconductor integrated circuit technologies, where the design and fabrication of micro-LED array on CMOS driver wafers allow for the reduction in pixel size and pitch. While current micro-LED micro-displays across the world are still largely monochromatic without a well-developed solution for single-chip full-color micro-LED display, Raysolve has established a world-leading position in this second technical route.
“Raysolve’s proprietary full-color micro-LED micro-display chips will allow the realization of consumer-level AR glasses and redefine the experience of consumers”, according to Dr. Chong. AR technologies and smart glasses are expected to replace smartphones as the ultimate interaction platform in the next decade. Realizing full-color on a single-chip is a critical development in micro-LED micro-displays for consumer-level applications of AR.
Through the combination of its proprietary CoANODETM ultra-bright micro-LED architecture with large-size GaN-on-Silicon epitaxial integration technology and color conversion layers, Raysolve has successfully developed its ultra-precise full-color micro-LED micro-display chipsets that fulfill the requirements of small footprint and high brightness for in AR glasses and other display applications.
Raysolve is led by a team with strong technical background. Dr. Chong studied his PhD under HKUST Professor Kei May LAU, a world-renowned professor in the field of optoelectronics. Dr. Chong has been engaged in the research and development of Micro-LED, GaN, semiconductor fabrication and advanced materials for over 15 years, with over 30 publications in international journals, 60 patents and numerous awards for his remarkable works.
Raysolve’s full-color Micro-LED micro-displays will be adopted in a wide range of applications, beyond the market focus of AR displays, such as head-up display (“HUD”), 3D printing and maskless lithography with key advantages of wide applications and immense market potential. The completion of this funding round will allow the company to continue with making disruptive technological breakthroughs, increasing its commitment to R&D, capitalizing on its technical advantages and developing key markets to become a global leader in the micro-display industry.