Mojo Vision has raised $45 million to adapt its augmented reality contact lenses to work with sports and fitness apps.

Saratoga, California-based Mojo Vision bills itself as the Invisible Computing Company. It is announcing strategic partnerships with sports and fitness brands to collaborate on next-generation user experiences that combine augmented reality, wearable technology, and personal performance data.

The companies will work together using Mojo’s smart contact lens technology, Mojo Lens, to find unique ways to improve data access and enhance athlete performance during sports activities.

Additional funding includes investments from the Amazon Alexa Fund, PTC, Edge Investments, HiJoJo Partners and others. Existing investors NEA, Liberty Global Ventures, Advantech Capital, AME Cloud Ventures, Dolby Family Ventures, Motorola Solutions and Open Field Capital have also participated.

Mojo Vision sees an opportunity in the wearable market to deliver real-time performance data and statistics to data-conscious athletes such as runners, cyclists, gym users, golfers and more through the hands-free and intuitive user interface. controlled by the eyes of Mojo Lens.

Strategic partnerships

Above: Mojo Vision is making augmented reality contact lenses.

Image Credit: Mojo Vision

Mojo Vision is participating in several strategic partnerships with fitness brands to address the unmet performance data needs of athletes and sports enthusiasts. The company’s initial partnerships include Adidas Running (running/training), Trailforks (cycling, hiking/outdoors), Wearable X (yoga), Slopes (snow sports), and 18Birdies (golf).

Through these strategic partnerships and the market expertise provided by the companies, Mojo Vision will explore additional smart contact lens interfaces and experiences to understand and improve data delivery for athletes of varying levels and abilities.

“We are making significant progress in the development of our smart contact lens technology, and we continue to research and identify new potential markets for this innovative platform,” said Steve Sinclair, senior vice president of products and marketing for Mojo Vision, in a statement. “Our partnerships with these leading brands will give us valuable insights into user behavior in the sports and fitness market. The goal is for these collaborations to provide athletes with an entirely new form factor with performance data that is more accessible and useful. [at] the moment.”

Recent research from International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that global wearable device shipments increased 32.3% year over year between 2020 and 2021. This significant and sustained growth in the wearable technology market is being led by companies that continue to refine and launching fitness trackers, smartwatches, smartphone apps, and other wearable devices largely aimed at improving the user experience for sports and fitness enthusiasts. However, the new data shows that there may be a gap in the type of data and the accessibility of that data that athletes and fitness enthusiasts want.

In a new survey of more than 1,300 athletes, Mojo Vision found that athletes rely heavily on portable data and express a need for different ways to deliver data. The study showed that nearly three in four (74%) people usually or always use a wearable device to track performance data during their workout or activity.

Yet even as today’s athletes rely on wearable technology, there is a huge appetite for devices that can provide better access to real-time data about their performance: 83% of respondents said they would benefit of data in real time or on the spot. .

Additionally, half of those surveyed said that of the three times (before, during and after their workout) they receive performance data from their devices, at the time or “during the data” was the most valuable type.

Mojo Lens, backed by years of scientific research and numerous technology patents, overlays images, symbols, and text in users’ natural field of vision without obstructing vision, restricting mobility, or hindering social interactions. Mojo calls this experience Invisible Computing.

In addition to the sports and wearable market, Mojo is planning an early application of its product to help people struggling with visual impairment through the use of enhanced image overlays.

Mojo Vision is actively working with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through its Advanced Devices Program, a voluntary program designed to provide safe and timely access to medical devices that can help treat diseases or irreversible debilitating conditions.

These new investments bring Mojo Vision’s total funding to date to $205 million.