LetinAR Raises $18.5 Million as Optical Modules Power Next-Gen Smart Glasses

Picture yourself cruising on a motorcycle at 160 km/h when a navigation arrow materializes directly on the road, guiding your turn. With no phone in sight and no need to glance at your dashboard, essential data blends seamlessly into your field of view via a compact mirror embedded in your helmet.

This isn't a scene from a sci-fi movie—it's a reality that could soon appear on European streets, potentially as early as this year. It represents just the beginning of the smart glasses revolution.

In recent years, major tech players have quietly (and sometimes loudly) invested in this sector: Meta has been refining its AI-enabled Ray-Ban glasses since 2023; Google is developing an Android XR ecosystem; Apple's involvement remains a subject of widespread speculation; and last week, reports emerged that Samsung will collaborate with Gentle Monster to unveil its first AI smart glasses at the London Galaxy Unpacked event in July. Meanwhile, Chinese tech leaders like Huawei, Alibaba, and Xiaomi are also accelerating their market entry.

Market figures back this momentum. According to Omdia, global shipments of AI glasses reached 8.7 million units in 2025, marking a year-over-year growth of over 300%, with analysts forecasting sales to surpass 15 million units this year.

As device manufacturers vie for market share, upstream suppliers are also positioning themselves strategically. LetinAR, a South Korean startup, is one such player, dedicated to addressing the most pressing challenge in smart glasses: creating optical modules that are both thin and energy-efficient while delivering crisp, clear visuals.

Recently, LetinAR secured an additional $18.5 million in funding, with backers including the Korea Development Bank and Lotte Venture Capital, paving the way for a planned 2027 IPO in South Korea. Notably, its early investor, LG Electronics, has reportedly initiated its own AI smart glasses project, highlighting how South Korea's top consumer electronics firms are rapidly prioritizing this category.

Co-founders Jaehyeok Kim and Jeonghun Ha, who have been friends since high school, established the company in 2016. Rather than producing finished glasses, they concentrate on the critical components that make wearable devices viable: optical modules.

"Smart glasses represent the next platform-level interface," Kim explained, "and the optical module is the most difficult component to perfect. Manufacturers must achieve greater thinness, lighter weight, and improved energy efficiency compared to existing technologies, all while preserving image quality."

Their answer is PinTILT: a technology that precisely aligns micro-optical elements within the lens to direct light accurately toward the eye, avoiding the scattering common in traditional designs.

In simpler terms: conventional waveguide technology resembles a living room TV, where light spreads across the entire lens, yet only a small fraction reaches the eye, leading to wasted energy, dimmer images, and higher power usage. While reflective designs like birdbath optics can guide light efficiently, their bulky structures make them unsuitable for everyday eyewear frames.

PinTILT operates on the principle of "creating only useful light." By focusing exclusively on the light entering the pupil and precisely adjusting each micro-component's angle, it delivers brighter visuals and reduced power consumption in a sleeker, lighter package. In the smart glasses market, where every gram and battery hour counts, this addresses a core industry challenge.

LetinAR's modules are currently in mass production and delivery, serving clients such as Japan's NTT QONOQ Devices and Dynabook (formerly part of Toshiba's client solutions division), accumulating extensive large-scale manufacturing experience. The company is also in discussions regarding next-generation AI glasses joint R&D with several major tech firms, though specific partners remain undisclosed.

One prominent client is Aegis Rider, a Swiss deep-tech startup emerging from ETH Zurich's computer vision lab. They are developing an AI-driven AR motorcycle helmet capable of "anchoring" navigation, speed, and safety alerts directly onto real-world roads rather than floating on the visor, creating the illusion that information is "drawn" into the environment ahead. LetinAR's optical modules serve as the visual core for this system, which is scheduled for launch in the EU and Switzerland in 2026.

Following this latest funding round, LetinAR has raised a total of $41.7 million. Kim stated that the capital will be allocated to capacity expansion, preparing for the pivotal moment when the AI glasses market transitions from early adopters to mainstream consumers. "Hardware devices like AI glasses will be the next layer for integrating artificial intelligence into everyday life."