Lausanne-based AlphaLum raises €3.6 million to build the missing hardware layer for mass-market smart glasses

Lausanne-based startup AlphaLum has secured €3.6 million in seed funding to advance its optics and sensing platform for smart glasses, a critical component for the burgeoning augmented reality (AR) market. This funding, led by Vsquared Ventures, aims to accelerate AlphaLum's transition from research and development to a key technology supplier, driving the mass-market availability of smart glasses. The development addresses a significant bottleneck in the industry, making the technology behind AR glasses more accessible. AlphaLum, founded in 2025 as a spin-out from ams OSRAM’s corporate incubator, is developing high-efficiency holographic display optics and miniature sensing technologies. Their approach combines holographic optical combiners and ultra-low-power interferometric laser sensors, addressing the limitations of current smart glass technology. This technology minimizes light loss, delivering over ten times higher optical efficiency compared to conventional methods. The impact of AlphaLum's advancements could be transformative for the AR sector. By resolving key technical issues in display efficiency and power consumption, the company aims to facilitate a shift from limited pilot production to true mass manufacturing of smart glasses. This could affect both consumers and major tech companies, as evidenced by Meta's recent decision to delay the international rollout of its Ray-Ban Display smart glasses due to production limitations. AlphaLum's technology, including its Volume Phase Holograms (VPHs) and AI-powered motion-sensing platform, promises intuitive, hands-free AR interaction and high-resolution, distortion-free images. This development could pave the way for a new generation of wearable AR devices. The next step is industrialization, and strengthening their role as a core technology supplier for future smart glasses platforms.