This stealth startup raised $140M for AR glasses 🤓

Last week this stealth startup – backed by Y Combinator, Spark Capital, Amazon Alexa Fund, and others – announced $140M (!!!) in funding to build next gen Google Glass. But unlike Google's dorky headgear, these smart glasses look like something you'd find at Warby Parker. Words won't do it justice. Watch the video.

Some initial reactions from the Product Hunt community:

“Looks like a scene from a Kingsmen movie” — Kaivalya

“Feels like this can deliver on the promise of smart watches to provide less disruptive notifications.” — Kris

“I AM SO EXCITED TO ORDER MINE” — Skylar



While the Focals look like Warby's, they're not priced like Warby's. They're available for pre-order for a whopping $999, a heavy price tag for this first generation model which ships sometime next year. But new tech like this always starts expensive before it becomes affordable for the mainstream, and fortunately there's competition for your eyes:

• Apple is rumored to be building smart glasses.

• The hyped Florida-based startup recently launched the Magic Leap One.

• Snap has v2 of Spectacles (which lacks an AR HUD... for now).

• Google Glass still exists, built for the enterprise.

And many others are competing in this space, hopeful to become the next big platform, the same way the iPhone changed the world when it was introduced by Steve Jobs in 2007. Take a look (pun intended... sorry) at the Focals and feel free to share your thoughts in the discussion.

Snap also quietly launched an AR experience; their first desktop app, bringing thousands of its AR lens and face filters to YouTube, Twitch, Skype, Google Hangouts, and other video chat apps. 🐶