As Meta faces antitrust scrutiny over its acquisition of VR health builders Inside, the tech large is making one other acquisition. Meta confirmed to TechCrunch that it’s buying Luxexcel, a sensible eyewear firm headquartered within the Netherlands. The phrases of the deal, which was first reported within the Belgian paper De Tijd, haven’t been disclosed.

Based in 2009, Luxexcel makes use of 3D printing to make prescription lenses for glasses. Extra not too long ago, the corporate has targeted its efforts on good lenses, which might be printed with built-in know-how like LCD shows and holographic movie.

“We’re excited that the Luxexcel staff has joined Meta, deepening the present partnership between the 2 firms,” a Meta spokesperson instructed TechCrunch. It’s rumored that Meta and Luxexcel had already labored collectively on Undertaking Aria, the corporate’s augmented actuality (AR) analysis initiative.

In September 2021, Meta unveiled the Ray-Ban Tales, a pair of good glasses that may take photographs and movies, or make hands-free, voice-controlled calls utilizing Meta platforms like WhatsApp and Fb. By absorbing Luxexcel, Meta will seemingly leverage the corporate’s know-how to supply prescription AR glasses, a product that has lengthy been anticipated to return out of Meta’s billions of {dollars} of funding into its Actuality Labs. Nonetheless, a report this summer season acknowledged that Meta was scaling again its plans for consumer-grade AR glasses, which have been initially slated for 2024. Meta didn’t touch upon these rumors on the time.

When constructing its AR and VR merchandise, Meta’s company technique has been to amass smaller firms which can be constructing prime know-how within the subject. Even Meta’s flagship headset, the Quest, comes from its acquisition of Oculus in 2014. Given the FTC’s makes an attempt to dam Meta’s buy of Inside, it’s doable that the acquisition of Luxexcel might spark the identical scrutiny.