Multinational camera technology and social media company Snap acquired next-generation brain-computer interface startup NextMind to accelerate the development of future augmented reality (AR) glasses.
The companies did not provide any information regarding the valuation of this acquisition deal. Snap Lab has added NextMind to help drive long-term augmented reality research activities.
Snap Lab is a hardware development team of the company tasked with developing products for Snap’s AR platform.
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According to the company, Snap Lab’s products, such as Spectacles, look into the possibilities for the Snap Camera’s future. The hardware team is now working on the future of artificial intelligence in Snap Camera and Spectacles.
Snap AR is aimed at content creators worldwide, with the goal of revolutionizing how digital content is created and explored. This acquisition of NextMind will drastically boost Snap Lab’s offerings by utilizing NextMind’s expertise in the domain.
As a part of the acquisition deal, the first product from NextMind, a $400 headband developer kit released two years ago, will be discontinued. However, the company’s twenty workers will continue to work for Snap Lab in France.
Snap mentioned in a blog, “Spectacles are an evolving, iterative research and development project, and the latest generation is designed to support developers as they explore the technical bounds of augmented reality.”
In the past, Snap has acquired multiple companies working in the augmented reality domain, including WaveOptics, which it bought last year. Additionally, Snap is also hiring extensively for various roles at multiple locations. Interested candidates can apply from the official website of Snap.
Paris-based brain-computer interface company NextMind was founded by Gwendal Kerdavid and Sid Kouider in 2017. NextMind is best known for developing a non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) technology to make it simpler to interact with electronic devices without using hands. To date, the startup has raised $4.6 million from investors like Bpifrance, Nordic Makers, and others in its seed funding round.
