Snap purchases WaveOptics in $500m deal

Snap has acquired WaveOptics in a $500m deal with an aim to develop a project to create glasses that people can wear to see computer-generated imagery overlaid on top of the real world.

WaveOptics, a company that creates lenses and other parts that are used in augmented reality glasses, will provide Snap with many of the components it needs to develop the spectacles.

Snap unveiled its first augmented reality Spectacles glasses on Thursday, reported CNBC.

Half of the transaction value will be paid upfront in stock and the remainder in cash or stock in two years' time.

In response to the news, Snap shares were trading lower by about 1% on Friday morning.

Other developers, including Apple and Facebook were working on similar devices, but Snap’s glasses were different from the AR products that already existed, like Microsoft’s HoloLens 2, which was nearer to a headset than a pair of glasses.