Digital entertainment startup Light Field Lab raises $28 million Series A to build holographic ecosystem

Light Field Lab, an holographic display tech startup, has closed $28 million Series A to scale its display technology from prototype to product, enabling holographic objects to float in space without head-mounted accessories. The round was led by Bosch Venture Capital and Taiwania Capital with strategic investment from Samsung Ventures, Verizon Ventures, Comcast, Liberty Global Ventures and others.

Founded in 2017 by Jon Karafin, Brendan Bevensee, and Ed Ibe, the San Jose, California-based Light Field Lab is building the world’s most innovative holographic ecosystem. Its mission is to enable a holographic future by building upon the founders’ collective expertise of light field technology innovation. Light Field Lab is backed by top-tier venture firms including Khosla Ventures.

Light Field Lab aims to bring real-world holographic experiences to life with up to hundreds of gigapixels of resolution, including modular video walls for live event and large-scale installations. Ingo Ramesohl, Managing Director of Bosch Venture Capital commented, “Light Field Lab’s holographic display technologies enable entirely new business opportunities across consumer and enterprise markets. Light Field Lab has the leadership and technical expertise to bring this vision of the holographic future to life.”

Although Light Field Lab will initially target large format location-based entertainment venues, a version of its holographic technologies will ultimately be developed for the consumer market. These partnerships pave the path forward towards widespread industry adoption and market expansion with strategic investors excited to participate in the holographic ecosystem. “Light Field Lab’s holographic displays are the most exciting new technology we have seen in the entertainment space to date. We are thrilled to meaningfully participate in their Series A and are well positioned to help them align with the industry’s top content creators to accelerate holographic media distribution on next-generation networks,” said Ankur Prakash, VP Liberty Global Ventures.

In addition to holographic displays, Light Field Lab’s technology includes the hardware and software platform required for content distribution. According to Kristina Serafim, Investment Director, Verizon Ventures, “Verizon’s new 5G network features the high bandwidth, low latency, speed and throughput to deliver next generation content. Light Field Lab’s innovative solution will help build the 5G future for Verizon’s consumer, business, network and media customers.”

“The industry response has been extremely enthusiastic as demonstrated by the strength of our investors,” said Jon Karafin, CEO, Light Field Lab. “We look forward to working with our syndicate of manufacturing, content creation and distribution partners to uncover opportunities and alliances across a range of vertical markets as we take our technology to the next phase.”