Lytro Raises $60 Million for Its Light Field Camera, Announces First VR Project With Chris Milk’s Within
Light field camera maker Lytro has raised a $60 million Series D round of funding, and the company is also getting closer to actually show consumers what its technology can do. Lytro announced on Wednesday that its Immerge VR camera was recently used by Chris Milk’s Within to shoot a first project, which is currently in post-production.
Lytro first announced its Immerge light field camera for virtual reality filmmakers at the end of 2015, and demonstrated some first footage shot by the camera to industry insiders last August.
During that time Lytro actually completely redesigned its camera, which was initially thought to be a spherical array of lenses. Now Immerge is using a planar array of lenses that is being rotated to film the entire 360-degree environment. Lytro’s servers then get busy to reconstruct the full light field volume for a 3D volumetric virtual reality experience.
Lytro is also looking to expand its market, and target studios in Asia as potential customers for its camera, which is where the new fundraise comes in. The new $60 million Series D was led by Blue Pool Capital, but investors also include Singapore-based EDBI, Huayi Media and Foxconn Technology Group, among others.
See the full story here: http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/lytro-60-million-series-d-1201988791/