Google is reportedly acquiring Lytro, a company that made light field cameras and hoped to pivot to virtual reality video capture. Google appears to have gotten a good (or at least cheap) deal:
Multiple sources tell us that Google is acquiring Lytro, the imaging startup that began as a ground-breaking camera company for consumers before pivoting to use its depth-data, light-field technology in VR.
One source described the deal as an "asset sale" with Lytro going for no more than $40 million. Another source said the price was even lower: $25 million. A third source tells us that not all employees are coming over with the company's technology: some have already received severance and parted ways with the company, and others have simply left. Assets would presumably also include Lytro's 59 patents related to light-field and other digital imaging technology.
The sale would be far from a big win for Lytro and its backers. The startup has raised just over $200 million in funding and was valued at around $360 million after its last round in 2017, according to data from PitchBook.
Despite a lot of hype, Lytro had little success with its expensive, ergonomically challenged, and low resolution light field cameras for consumers.
Also at 9to5Google and Engadget.
Related: LinkedIn's Top 10 Silicon Valley Startups for 'Talent Brand' - Note: Both Lytro and Theranos are on the list.
A Pocket Camera with Many Eyes - Inside the Development of Light
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 21 2018, @10:43PM (1 child)
This may have been a good idea, but it didn't solve any problems that were pressing enough for consumers to pay that much more for so much less camera.
Foveon also failed even though it was a much more useful technology, but in both cases they weren't good enough to compete with the other options. Lytro was particularly strange in that it was a weird form factor and a significantly lower resolution.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday March 22 2018, @05:02AM
That was my feeling as well, I'm surprised Lytro is valued at anything above $0. It solves no identifiable problem beyond "what should I write my PhD thesis on?".