The XR Weekly Snapshot (2025.07.14): XPANCEO Achieves Unicorn Status, Upload Unveils a New Showcase, and More!

Sure thing! Here we go:

You know what? An Italian player won Wimbledon—first time ever! As an Italian, this makes me feel like I should break some history too. Got any ideas? Drop them in the comments! But until I get to that, here’s me sticking to my usual gig: summing up this week’s XR madness.

Big Stuff This Week

(Image by XPANCEO)

XPANCEO Scores as an XR Unicorn

XPANCEO, sketched out in Dubai with their smart contact lenses, just grabbed $250M and now sits at a cool $1.35 billion. Unicorn status, baby! With the dough from Opportunity Venture, they’re on track to hatch their first product—hopefully by 2026. Some say too soon, but whatever, I’m hyped. I’m a sucker for smart lenses. Who knows, maybe they’ll pull off a healthcare marvel, like glucose-sensing lenses? Fingers crossed for them. Hoping to visit the team in Dubai someday—shoutout to Roman and Valentyn!

More details here: Bloomberg, Unite AI, Road To VR.

Other Juicy Bits

(Image by Upload)

Indies Take the Stage at Upload VR

So, Upload VR rolled out another showcase for indie XR games. No mega-announcements (because big shots like Gamescom hog those) but still, indie devs got their time in the limelight.

Highlights:

• Elsewhere Electric launches July 23 on Quest and Steam.
• Reach by Ndreams is coming this year—PS VR2, SteamVR, Quest.
• Virtual Skate hits on August 21.
• Fixer Undercover sneaks out early next year on Steam and Quest.
• How To God starts a beta on July 21.

You want the scoop? Check the links for all the juicy details.

Samsung’s No-Show

Analysts said, “Moohan at Unpacked!” But guess what, nada. It’s a total guessing game now. Suspense or delays—I can’t keep up. Why keep it behind glass if there’s nothing new to show, Samsung?

More News that’s Worth a Mention

(Image by Ray-Ban)

• Meta’s $3.5B dive into Luxottica—Yep, the glasses game just got intense.
• Canon’s MR headgear is happening—Can’t wait to see what they bring to the table.
• New Ray-Ban leaks—Aperol and Bellini glasses in 2023? Yes, please!
• Apple Vision Pro revamp expected this year—rumors keep flip-flopping.

And hey, CREAL snagged $9M for their wicked lightfield displays. So many strides in shrinking tech—maybe one day, AR glasses won’t be so clunky.

Old Friends, New Tricks

Remember RealSense? Thought they were gone, huh? Nope, they spun out of Intel with a fresh $50M to play with. Keep an eye out for AI-enhanced vision tech, maybe even XR stuff!

VR LAN Monument

Reddit buzzed about Jeff Baz’s VR LAN party—a guy with a side gig turned 130 headsets into a universe. Hats off, man!

Hackathon Hype

Mentra’s smart glasses hackathon had brains buzzing all weekend. I’m on the edge of my seat to see what inventions popped out.

Some Heat about Content

Table Troopers is dropping on July 17. And there’s a sequel for Prison Boss—a co-op blast but needs some tracking polish.

Final Call: Do Good!

Hey, instead of supporting just me, how about aiding those facing wartime hardship? The Red Cross could use your help in Ukraine. Big thanks to my Patreon warriors for your ongoing support.

Here’s where you can contribute: Support The Red Cross in Ukraine.

(Header image by XPANCEO)

There you go, in all its raw, twisty glory! Hope it does the trick.