2024-11-12
CEO Øyvind Isaksen
"With the progress made thus far and still so much potential in the topline, this is an excellent time to catch the upside of a very exciting technology company."
For those unfamiliar with poLight, could you provide an overview of the company’s mission, core technologies, and the primary markets you serve?
poLight was established in 2005 and has since then focused on developing and commercializing a unique tunable optics technology. Our goal is to lead the tunable optics space across various market segments – where we primarily focus on the consumer market, addressing the AR and MR space, as well as industrial segments such as barcode scanning and machine vision.
Our products meet market demands for low power consumption, compactness, and rapid response that ensures high performance and energy savings for next-generation devices.
Our core technology essentially replicates the function of the human eye, utilizing advanced tunable optics and patented methods to achieve rapid and accurate focusing, which is essential for high-quality imaging. If you consider how the human eye has a lens with surrounding muscles that reshape it for focusing on objects at different distances – we’ve created a technology that allows cameras to do the same, ensuring seamless and natural focus.
poLight’s TLens® technology has been described as delivering ’the human eye experience’ in autofocus cameras. Could you elaborate on the unique advantages of TLens® over traditional autofocus solutions, and how it enhances user experiences across various applications?
Conventional autofocus technologies involve mechanical movements within the lens stack, which result in slow focus change and create an unnatural focusing experience, often accompanied by a ’breathing effect’ that alters the field of view and at high power consumption penalty. TLens® technology, on the other hand, responds in milliseconds, replicating the function of the human eye without any breathing effect and maintaining the field of view. This results in a seamless and natural focus transition that users barely notice, enhancing the experience across various applications. Additionally, TLens® has the lowest power consumption in its category, has no gravity sensitivity and a built in athermalisation effect, making it ideal for portable devices.
With poLight set to present at CES 2025, what are you hoping to showcase that will grab attention from new audiences?
CES is a significant event for poLight, and we’ve been participating for many years. This year, we plan to showcase the full range of our core technology building blocks—everything from the lens material and the actuators that shape the lens to the complete TLens® product and its manufacturing process. We will also display camera modules that integrate our lens technology, including OEM products using our products such as smartphones, AR/MR glasses, and barcode readers. Additionally, we are excited to present a new product under development called TWedge®, which is designed to enhance the resolution of compact AR displays by up to four times without sacrificing brightness. This is a critical advancement in the AR/MR display industry, and we look forward to demonstrating it.
Your Q3 report shows impressive market activity, especially in AR/MR. What would you say are the driving forces behind this success?
The characteristics of our tunable optics technology is a significant driver of our market activity, particularly in the AR/MR space. The market demands highly compact solutions with extremely low power consumption, and we excel in that area. Our technology’s ability to replicate the natural focus of the human eye provides a seamless user experience, unlike conventional autofocus systems that can be slow and disorienting, sometimes even causing motion sickness. These unique advantages have been increasingly recognized by industry players, contributing to our pipeline growth.
Where would you like to see poLight three years from now? (not a forecast)
In three years, we aim to have expanded our presence in the three key market segments: AR/MR, consumer products, and the industrial sector. The AR/MR market is evolving, and we anticipate consumer glasses becoming more mainstream, where we will play a significant role. It’s exciting that we are early in this field, allowing us to establish ourselves before major competitors step in. As the AR/MR market scales, we aim to be an integral part, driving significant topline growth. We will also continue to explore consumer products that require compact, high-quality cameras. The industrial sector is crucial due to its longer product lifecycles, sometimes up to 10 years, compared to consumer products that may only last 6 to 18 months. This long-term value is something we plan to build upon.
Why is poLight a good investment today?
Investing in poLight presents several compelling factors: The innovative TLens® technology offers a unique solution with clear advantages over traditional autofocus systems and caters to the growing demand for advanced imaging capabilities. Furthermore, the market growth, with the expanding AR/MR, consumer electronics, and industrial markets provides ample opportunities for poLight’s technology to be adopted across various applications. Lastly, our strategic positioning is significant, with early entry into emerging markets such as AR/MR where poLight is ahead of potential competitors. With the progress made thus far and still so much potential in the topline, this is an excellent time to catch the upside of a very exciting technology company.
