Lucyd Fam,
In these difficult times we hope that you and your families are safe and well. Thank you for joining us on our mission to upgrade the world’s eyewear. We’re grateful that you’re in our community, and we’d like to share an important corporate update.
For the purposes of developing a US base of operations, and funding the development of our next generation of smartglasses, Lucyd has licensed all of its intellectual property, including the Lucyd brand, URL and eShop to a US corporation called Innovative Eyewear, Inc.
Due to the significantly larger amount of investment capital and technical resources available to a US company, we think this move will prove immensely beneficial to continue what we have started, and help bring the Lucyd brand to mainstream, commercial success.
It’s been about two and a half years since Lucyd was founded, and a good part of its progress was made possible by our community. That progress took the shape of hundreds of pairs of glasses tested and thousands sold, the development of three new product lines of smart eyewear, engaging in cutting-edge AR research with true leaders in the field, the development and filing of four new utility patents and seventeen design patents, and building prescription eyewear and Bluetooth technology supply chains to source the most advanced components.
Specifically, we developed the following:
- The Lucyd Lens project. Significant R&D project on the potential of our original patent portfolio. Our experience gained from this led us to pivot the company towards simpler, lighter Bluetooth eyewear until visual AR technologies are more ergonomic, accessible, advanced and useful.
- Lucyd Loud 1.0. This was our first Bluetooth audio glass. We tested a number of available products, improved the production quality on this model, and brought it up to Lucyd standards. Approximately 800 units were made and sold, mostly in 2018. Out of the gate we offered over a dozen custom lens options, via our partnership with a well-established lens lab.
- Lucyd Loud launched in tandem with the Lucyd eShop in Fall 2018. The eShop provides a groundbreaking eyewear retail experience, offering virtual try-on, free eye doctor advice, and the first prescription smartglass product, years before our competitors.
- A second edition of Lucyd Loud was designed in house and built to spec in Q1 2019, bringing a wide selection of 10 colors and patterns. The “Slim” was later rebranded as the “Youth” after user feedback revealed that the fit was preferred by teens. It is still available on Lucyd.co. We filed 13 design patents on the Loud Youth, and it has proven popular with younger demographics.
- As something of a side project, we developed a line of branded sunglasses called Sherman Shades, which launched exclusively on Amazon in March 2019. This unique line offered a blue light blocking sunglass, and was the first to offer a photochromic blue light lens in the US with the Cool Down model. All models are under $20 retail with high build quality, and almost all of the 2,700 units of this limited series have been sold.
- Bluetooth 5.0 chipset became available and we developed the Loud 2020 in seven styles and launched it in January 2020. It proves popular with a 3.9/5 rating on Amazon, leading similar products in its price range. Its unique subwoofer units give it a full range sound and the healthiest bass response of any audio glass. The Loud 2020 comes in three sizes, XL, Slim and Ultraslim, offering a range of fits for different size individuals.
- We designed an app that is an internet-of-things controller, with the intent of giving the user a high degree of control and organization over their wearables and devices. The app is called LYNK and has two goals, to allow the user fast prioritization and interweaving of input/output signals among wirelessly connected devices, and quick and flexible prioritization of available wireless connections. We filed a patent on the LYNK technology and believe it may help facilitate user adoption of wearables in the future.
- We developed an additional technology that allows Bluetooth components to be used with interchangeable frontplates, allowing the user to rapidly swap styles or lens sets at lower cost. This product is called Lucyd Loox. For this project, we researched 3D printed frontplates and lenses to allow an enormous potential range of styles, on par with a full eyewear line. One utility and four design patents were filed. Loox is planned for release after the upcoming Lyte line.
- We began the development of the Vyrb™ vocal media app for iPhone and Android. This app is currently being developed for a planned December launch, and we believe it may make many digital tasks voice-assistant accessible, and allow the user to craft new voice commands. Vyrb will also support a native user community, with all the verbal and textual content they wish to share. It should also improve the safety of wearing Lucyd glasses on the go, as it alleviates the user need to look at their smartphone to interact with social media. A US patent has been filed and a trademark is pending.
- Using the technology we have developed, Innovative Eyewear is currently developing a new product frame, Lucyd Lyte. We expect it will be delivered in Q3 this year. Lyte will come in several styles and be the first Bluetooth eyewear that truly meets the standard spectacle form factor, making all-day wear a breeze. Lyte is expected to be priced similar to previous models at about $119, and be available in three initial styles.
- With Lucyd Lyte and Vyrb together, Innovative Eyewear aims to create a unique wearable computing experience that is flexible, powerful and completely voice accessible. It is our hope that these products will become a marketplace success.
In these 2.5 years we’ve really done some incredible things. We became the first company in the world to deliver prescription smartglasses, the first to do so globally to over 100 countries, the first to design a line of smartglasses in 10 patterns, and we became a leading innovator in the space, beating the likes of much larger and significantly better financed companies to market. And all this was enabled by our community, who believed in our vision, and for this we are grateful. The Lucyd Singapore development program has come to a close and we are excited about the next stage of development of Lucyd products by Innovative Eyewear, Inc.
Innovative Eyewear has launched an equity crowdfund to support development of its smart frames, and software ecosystem. The crowdfund is now live on StartEngine at this link. We welcome your participation, to help realize the company's vision of upgrading the world’s eyewear.
Best
Harrison Gross
CEO
Innovative Eyewear, Inc.
