US-based Lytro has developed a light field camera that can produce small images that you can click on to choose the focus point

US-based Lytro, which has developed a ‘light field’ camera for the cinematography industry, has secured US$60 million in Series D funding, led by Hong Kong-based VC firm Blue Pool Capital.

Singapore-based EDBI, and Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn, besides Chinese entertainment company Huayi Media, have also joined the round. Existing investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, GSV, North Bridge and Qualcomm, have also contributed.

“We believe that Asia in general and China in particular represent hugely important markets for virtual reality (VR) and cinematic content over the next five years,” said Jason Rosenthal, CEO of Lytro. “A key goal of this capital raise was to assemble a group of trusted capital partners to help us best understand and navigate this new market.”

Founded in 2006 by Ren Ng (Executive Chairman), Lytro has developed a light field camera that can produce small images that you can click on to choose the focus point. With a single exposure from Lytro ILLUM camera, you can adjust aperture, use selective focus, tilt, focus spread, animation and even 3D to differentiate yourself with multiple deliverables.

By capturing rich multi-dimensional data from every angle in to the camera, Lytro ILLUM allows you to create immersive, interactive stories that viewers can explore from multiple dimensions

For the uninitiated, light field camera captures information about the light field emanating from a scene; that is, the intensity of light in a scene, and also the direction that the light rays are traveling in space. This contrasts with a conventional camera, which records only light intensity.

According to the company, this technology will unlock new opportunities for photography, cinematography, mixed reality, scientific and industrial applications. For cinematography, Lytro unlocks new creativities for visual effects (VFX) production by reducing production cost and time.

Lytro’s aims to address two large markets: 1) digital cinematography (a US$6.8 billion dollar captive market considering only the camera systems) and post-production software/services (US$6 billion in 2016); and 2), AR/VR, a nascent but exponentially growing new market with an estimated total addressable market of US$80 billion by 2025 (according to Goldman Sachs).

“Lytro will create and commercialise sophisticated next generation immersive digital media solutions in Singapore for the region and the world,” said CHU Swee Yeok, CEO and President of EDBI. “Being the core enabling technology provider for creating captivating content, Lytro’s presence in Singapore will help strengthen capabilities in revolutionary light field capture technology in a rapidly growing field of AR/VR.”

Lytro’s presence in Singapore will help accelerate the talent base and development of the industry leading AR/VR production base in Singapore. It will also partner with local research institutes to further advance their camera technology. It plans to grow its business and R&D activities in Asia out of Singapore.

 

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