We’ve long believed that the visor company Vuzix was better positioned than most to succeed in the enterprise market. Intel apparently agrees: it announced over the weekend that it’s bought 30 percent of the company for $24.8 million, valuing Vuzix at upwards of $83 million.
Intel is on something of a finished-products tear in the wearables market. A year ago, there were no Intel-branded products outside of processors, motherboards, or memory. Then the company bought Basis. maker of athletic wristbands. Now, six months or so later, comes the investment in Vuzix. In between was a development deal with eyewear giant Luxottica and a very high profile “Make It Wearable” hackathon series with a total $1 million at stake.
Vuzix, according to the press release, is not planning on staying in the enterprise market. The companies say that some of Intel’s investment will be used to “accelerate the introduction of Vuzix next generation fashion-based wearable display products into the consumer market.”