Meta (company)

Meta
Private
Founder Meron Gribetz, CEO
Key people
 John Werner
Products Augmented Reality Products
Website metavision.com

Meta is a Silicon Valley company known for making augmented reality products, including the Meta 1 Developer Kit and the Meta 2 Development Kit. These products combine real-world technology with holographic images.[1][2] According to CNBC, Meta's main competitors are Vuzix and Recon Instruments rather than Google Glass. Meta's customers are as product engineers and architects.[3] After a failed investment round, the company furloughed about two-thirds of his approximately 100 employees in September 2018.[4]

History

Meta was founded by Meron Gribetz while he was a student of neuroscience and computer science at Columbia University under tutelage of Steven Feiner.[5][6] In 2013, Meta launched a crowd-funded Kickstarter campaign that raised $194,444.[7] Also in 2013, Meta was accepted into the Y Combinator's seed accelerator program.[8][9] Steve Mann became the company's chief scientist and Steven Feiner became an adviser.[10][11]

In 2014, Gribetz was awarded the "30 Under 30 award" in the technology category by Forbes[12][13] and Meta won best heads-up display award for the Meta Pro at the Consumer Electronics Show (the Meta Pro was deemed a prototype and never publicly released).[14][15] Meta presented the Meta 1 Developer Kit with a live medical demo at 2014's TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.[16] In September 2014, Meta began to ship its Meta 1 Developer Kit.[17][18]

In 2015, Meta received $23 million in Series-A funding from Horizons Ventures, Tim Draper, BOE Optoelectronics, Garry Tan and Alexis Ohanian of Y Combinator, Danhua Capital, Commodore Partners, and Vegas Tech Fund.[19][20][21]

In 2016, Meta unveiled its second-generation product at a TED conference.[22][23][24][25] The company began accpeting pre-orders for its second-generation headset, the Meta 2 Development Kit.[26][27][28] The company received another $50M in venture-capital funds from Lenovo, Tencent, Banyan Capital, Comcast Ventures, and GQY.[29]

In 2018, the company furloughed two-thirds of its one-hundred employees after it failed to secure another round of venture-capital funding.[30]

Products

  • Meta 1 Developer Kit (Kickstarter 2013-05-17)
  • Meta 2 Development Kit (pre-orders 2016-03-02)
  • Meta Pro (prototype)

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://blog.laptopmag.com/meta-pro-glasses-hands-on
  2. ↑ Angley, Natalie (2013-10-31). "Glasses to make you a real-life Tony Stark". CNN. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
  3. ↑ Berniker, Mark (2014-04-14). "Meta attracts big investors for new augmented reality glasses". CNBC. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
  4. ↑ Wang, Selina (September 9, 2018). "Trade War Is Hurting Silicon Valley Augmented Reality Startup". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  5. ↑ Das, Sumi (2013-10-30). "Meta's spaceglasses promise mobile augmented reality". CNET. Retrieved 2016-02-27.
  6. ↑ Farber, Dan (2013-09-09). "Meta's Meron Gribetz and the rise of the natural machine". CNET. Retrieved 2016-02-27.
  7. ↑ "Kickstarter: The Most Advanced Augmented Reality Glasses". Kickstarter. 2013-05-17. Retrieved 2016-02-27.
  8. ↑ Crook, Jordan (2013-08-20). "Y Combinator Summer 2013 Demo Day, Batch 2: Meet Meta, Lob, Amulyte, Weilos And More". TECHCRUNCH. Retrieved 2016-02-27.
  9. ↑ Farber, Dan (2013-05-17). "Meta glasses bring 3D and your hands into the picture". CNET. Retrieved 2016-02-27.
  10. ↑ Biggs, John (2013-05-21). "Meta, The World's First Entry-Level AR Glasses, Hires The Father Of Wearable Computing As Chief Scientist". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  11. ↑ Cava, Marco (2013-07-30). "Change Agents: Seeing world through Meta's 3-D glasses". USATODAY. Retrieved 2016-02-28.
  12. ↑ "2014 30 Under 30: Technology". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  13. ↑ Guglielmo, Connie (2014-01-06). "30 Under 30: Meet Technology's Smartest, Youngest And Most Daring Innovators". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  14. ↑ "Best of CES 2014". Tom's Guide. 2014-06-09. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  15. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (2014-01-12). "The Best of CES 2014". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  16. ↑ "Treating Virtual Patients with Meta and SimX". TechCrunch. 2014-09-09. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  17. ↑ Donovan, Jay (2014-09-18). "Meta 1 Augmented Reality Glasses Are Dragging Us Into A VR Future". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  18. ↑ Levy, Karyne (2014-09-18). "The World Is One Step Closer To Being Like An 'Iron Man' Movie". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  19. ↑ Chapman, Lizette (2015-01-28). "Augmented-Reality Headset Maker Meta Secures $23 Million". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  20. ↑ "Meta". CrunchBase. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  21. ↑ Brewster, Signe (2015-01-28). "Meta raises $23M Series A to refine its augmented reality glasses". Gigaom. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  22. ↑ "Meta Unveils Incredible Augmented Reality Headset at TED". UploadVR. 2016-02-17. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  23. ↑ Wakefield, Jane (2016-02-17). "TED 2016: Meta augmented reality headset demoed at TED". BBC. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  24. ↑ Helft, Miguel (2016-02-17). "New Augmented Reality Startup Meta Dazzles TED Crowd". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  25. ↑ Rosenbaum, Steven (2016-02-17). "Meron Gribetz Wants To Build The IOS Of The Mind". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  26. ↑ Matney, Lucas (2016-03-02). "Hands-on with the $949 mind-bending Meta 2 augmented reality headset". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  27. ↑ Lang, Ben (2016-03-02). "Hands-on: Meta 2 Could Do for Augmented Reality What Rift DK1 Did for Virtual Reality". Road to VR. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  28. ↑ Helft, Miguel (2016-03-02). "Startup Meta Unveils $949 Augmented Reality Headset To Rival HoloLens". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  29. ↑ "AR startup Meta raises $50M at around $300M valuation, eyes up China". Techcrunch.
  30. ↑ Wang, Selina (September 9, 2018). "Trade War Is Hurting Silicon Valley Augmented Reality Startup". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
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