South Korean startup LetinAR has secured $18.5 million from Korea Development Bank and Lotte Ventures, bringing total funding to $41.7 million ahead of a planned 2027 IPO. The LG Electronics-backed company, founded in 2016 by childhood friends CEO Jaehyeok Kim and CTO Jeonghun Ha, makes the optical modules that sit inside AI smart glasses — the component that determines whether the device is genuinely wearable or merely a prototype.
Its proprietary PinTILT lens technology focuses light precisely into the user’s eye rather than scattering it across the full lens, delivering brighter images in a thinner, lighter, more power-efficient form factor than existing waveguide or mirror-based approaches. Customers include Japan’s NTT QONOQ Devices and Dynabook, and its modules power Aegis Rider’s AI motorcycle helmet, targeting European roads in 2026.
Kim said AI glasses represented the next major platform for bringing artificial intelligence into daily life, and that the optical module remained the hardest engineering problem in the entire industry. Global AI glasses shipments surged over 300 percent in 2025 to 8.7 million units.
Featured image: Credit: LetinAR
