#foundersfriday: WayRay and Porsche

The weekly series #foundersfriday presents collaborations and investments between Porsche and startups — explained in a nutshell. Today: WayRay.

Background

Innovation, high quality and exclusiveness — those are three notions that Porsche and many Swiss products have in common. Porsche has set itself the objective to continuously expand its offering of digital services as well as the seamless integration of virtual objects into the driving experience.

WayRay’s technology offers an option to visually display these features on the windscreen. That’s why Porsche collaborates with the innovative technology startup from Zurich in Switzerland.

Why WayRay?

In comparison to conventional head-up displays on the market, WayRay offers a projection system which is significantly smaller and can be installed in any vehicle, regardless of the car’s interior design. The technology is currently being tested for both drivers and passengers to ultimately offer the potential for new concepts in the context of highly automated driving.

“As a deep-tech company, we are committed to creating fundamental innovations that bring us far beyond holographic augmented reality displays and new interfaces. A growing number of projects with carmakers and strong investors like Porsche are fueling the company’s growth and boosting our confidence in implementing complex innovations”, says Vitaly Ponomarev, Founder and CEO of WayRay.

Porsche bought into WayRay as a strategic lead investor during the current Series C funding round. The total value of the financing round is 80 million US dollars (69 million euro). Porsche has taken a stake in WayRay alongside Hyundai Motor, JVCKENWOOD and various funds, positioning itself alongside investors such as Alibaba Group. The collaboration between WayRay and Porsche forms part of the “Startup Autobahn” innovation platform and will be strategically developed to actively drive forward future-oriented technology and its use cases in the automotive industry.

Learn more about Porsche and WayRay via Porsche Newsroom here.