Carlsbad-based Ostendo Technologies Inc. recently raised $41.8 million for its business leveraging a novel technology that it has developed. Ostendo makes a microchip that gives a smartphone the ability to project an image on a wall.
The business had yet to sell $21 million of its offering, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing dated July 14.
Ostendo’s plans for the funds are a little less clear. A company representative said Ostendo is not currently doing interviews. However, the representative did say that Ostendo was focused on bringing products to market in the augmented reality and virtual reality markets. (Augmented reality is when a device layers a computer-generated image over a video picture, in the same vein as Pokemon Go.)
The first sale in the $41.8 million funding round was in late June. In the filing, Ostendo said the sale is from new investment and the conversion of debt.
Ostendo also recently took out a 12-year lease on a 65,000-square-foot building on Aston Avenue.
In a 2014 interview, company representatives said Ostendo was developing a 1 centimeter square microchip with a light-emitting component that can cast an image of 1,280 by 720 pixels. At the time the company had 112 employees.
The business received a $58.3 million defense contract in 2012, though federal budget cuts affected part of the award.
Hussein S. El-Ghoroury is the company’s CEO.
