Haylo Ventures, a VC founded by former WaveOptics CEO David Hayes that is focused on the AR industry, is set to acquire microLED developer (and MicroLED Industry Association member) Plessey Semiconductors. The news was announce by Goertek, that will provide a 5-year $100 million loan to Haylo for the acquisition.
If Plessey (or Haylo) will be acquired, or if it will IPO, during the period of the loan, Goertek will receive 25% of the acquisition (or IPO) value. Goertek had invested in WaveOptics (before it was acquired by Snap), and has worked with David Hayes closely before. It seems as if the AR developer is interested in Plessey's technology and does not consider this to be just a financial deal.
Haylo Ventures and Goertek has invested in Helio Display Materials, a company that develops perovskite-based QDs for microLED displays.
In March 2020, Meta signed a deal with Plessey to dedicate all of Plessey's microLED manufacturing operations to support Meta with its own product development. Facebook pretty much acquired Plessey's microLED operations with this exclusive deal.
While Meta and Plessey continue some of the joint R&D, it seems as if Plessey is no longer completely dedicated to Meta's projects. In September 2024, Meta announced the Orion AR headset project, based on microLED microdisplays. It is assumed that Meta uses JBD's microdisplays.
Haylo Ventures will take part in the Investor Panel at MicroLED-Connect 2025, this will be an excellent chance to understand the strategy behind this acquisition!
