Tag: augmented reality

Vuzix reports record smart glasses sales in Q1

Vuzix Corp. this week reported record sales of smart glasses in the first quarter.

Revenues for the quarter ended March 31 were $3.92 million, up significantly from $1.53 million in the year-ago quarter. The increase was driven by higher sales of the company’s smart glasses products, which rose $2.4 million, or 177 percent year-over-year.

Vuzix reported a net loss for the quarter of $6.6 million, or 12 cents per share, compared with a $5.9 million loss in the same quarter last year, or 18 cents per share.

Paul Travers
Paul Travers

“Following further warrant exercises in our first quarter and our late March equity offering, our balance sheet is now stronger with pro forma cash of roughly $145 million as of April 1, which puts us in an excellent position to not only fund projected growth and planned product development, but also to broaden our product offerings through potential strategic initiatives,” said Vuzix President and CEO Paul Travers.

Research and development expenses were $2.1 million in the first quarter, compared with $2 million in the same quarter last year. Company officials attributed the rise to salary and benefits increases, as well as stock-based compensation, largely offset by a decrease in external consulting fees related to the M400 Smart Glasses development.

“The reopening of global economies is waking up segments of our business that went dormant over the past 14 months due to COVID, specifically within logistics, warehousing, retail picking and e-commerce,” Travers said. “At the same time, we continue to see acceleration of our business across healthcare, manufacturing and field service.

“Our balance sheet is the strongest in our company’s history and we believe that we are well-positioned to continue to achieve significant year-over-year comparative revenue growth throughout the balance of 2021, thanks to the growing success of our M-Series and Vuzix Blad Smart Glasses,” he added.

Vuzix is a supplier of smart glasses and augmented reality technologies and products for the consumer and enterprise markets headquartered in West Henrietta. The company’s products include personal display and wearable computing devices that offer users a portable, high-quality viewing experience, provide solutions for mobility, wearable displays and augmented reality.

Shares of company stock (Nasdaq: VUZI) have ranged from $2.06 to $32.43 in the last 52 weeks and were trading at $15.85 Thursday morning.

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Vuzix raises $97 million in underwritten public offering

Vuzix Corp. has closed its previously announced underwritten public offering of more than 4.76 million shares of its common stock at a price of $20.50 to the public.

The shares include nearly 622,000 shares pursuant to the full exercise by the underwriters of their over-allotment option. The gross proceeds to Vuzix were roughly $97.75 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions.

Vuzix plans to use the funds from the sale of shares for general corporate purposes, including working capital to accelerate the building of finished goods inventory to address increasing customer demand, new technology development, new product development, purchases of technology, expansion of its software offerings and possible related acquisitions.

BTIG LLC acted as the sole book-running manager for the offering. Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC acted as co-manager for the offering, and Special Equities Group, a division of Dawson James Securities Inc., served as a financial adviser to the company.

Vuzix is a leading supplier of smart glasses and augmented reality technologies and products for the consumer and enterprise markets. The company’s products include personal display and wearable computing devices that offer users a portable, high-quality viewing experience, as well as provide solutions for mobility, wearable displays and augmented reality. It trades as VUZI on the Nasdaq exchange.

Shares of company stock (Nasdaq: VUZI) were trading up more than 8 percent at $26.92 midday Monday.

[email protected] / 585-653-4021
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Xerox acquires augmented reality firm, makes changes to business segments

Xerox Holdings Corp. is in the midst of reinventing itself with a number of management and divisional changes.

The former document company — and one of Rochester’s one-time Big Three employers — has expanded its software portfolio with the acquisition of CareAR, an augmented reality support platform company that provides real-time access to expertise for customers, employees and field workers.

With CareAR software, remote agents and experts can virtually set the situation and visually guide a solution using a suite of augmented reality tools via desktop, mobile and smart glasses devices, as though they were there in person.

“Our software solutions address some of the biggest needs for customers: content management, digital transformation and personalized communications. And now we’ve added enterprise augmented reality,” said Xerox President and Chief Operations Officer Steve Bandrowczak in a statement last week. “By combining DocuShare, XMPie and CareAR, we have a software business that can together and apart support a wide range of clients’ needs.”

On Monday, Xerox announced organizational changes to support its plans to create three new businesses — Software, Financing and Innovation — aimed at delivering long-term growth this year and beyond.

“We are focused on increasing the breadth of our offerings to better reach new and existing clients and drive organic growth,” Xerox Vice Chairman and CEO John Visentin said. “Our plan to stand up three separate businesses by 2022 will provide greater focus, flexibility and visibility as we position Xerox for the future.”

Nicole Torraco has been promoted to senior vice president, Xerox Financial Services, to lead the company’s financing business. XFS will become a global payment solutions business, aimed at expanding its customer base, creating potential cross-selling opportunities and helping to support small and medium-sized businesses.

Sam Waicberg will lead the Software business as vice president and general manager of Digital Services. He joined the organization with the acquisition of CareAR.

Naresh Shanker will lead the PARC Innovation business as senior vice president and chief technology officer. Xerox has made progress advancing new technology in recent years with products including 3D liquid metal and industrial IoT products, cleantech technology and more. PARC will include the scientists and engineers in Palo Alto, Calif., Cary, N.C., Toronto, Ont. and the Xerox campus in Webster.

Executive Vice President Louie Pastor has been appointed chief corporate development officer and chief legal officer. He will lead a new Corporate Development group responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing mergers and acquisitions opportunities and venture investments, including the company’s recently announced $250 million corporate venture capital fund.

[email protected] / 585-653-4021
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