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Chronicles

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Zurich-based WayRay, which develops holographic AR hardware and display tech for cars, raises $80M Series C led by Porsche, source says at a $500M valuation

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :

TechCrunch Ingrid Lunden

Context & Ripple Effects

WayRay's Series B round led by Alibaba in 2017 tied the Swiss startup to Alibaba-backed connected-car maker Banma Technologies; this Porsche-led $80M Series C at a reported $500M valuation adds a European automaker as lead investor, doubling down on the same thesis that holographic displays are a differentiating in-cabin feature.

The pattern is not unique to WayRay: UK rival Envisics raised its $50M Series B from Hyundai Mobis and GM in 2020 and later extended its Series C to $100M, meaning every major holographic HUD startup now counts the very automakers it sells to among its backers.

First-order effects

  • Porsche converts from prospective customer to shareholder, securing early access to WayRay's holographic display tech for its own vehicle programs while WayRay gains capital to scale production beyond its Alibaba-Banma channel.
  • WayRay's valuation roughly doubles across rounds on paper ($18M Series B to a reported $500M post-money), giving it pricing power and hiring leverage against Envisics in the narrow market for automotive holographic HUDs.

Second-order effects

  • Competing automakers face pressure to match Porsche's move through their own equity plays — a path Hyundai Mobis and GM already took with Envisics — turning supplier selection into a strategic-alignment contest rather than a pure procurement decision.
  • Tier-1 suppliers of conventional instrument clusters and windscreen projection risk being disintermediated if OEMs keep locking up display startups directly with balance-sheet money instead of sourcing through them.

Third-order effects

  • If the pattern holds, in-cabin AR becomes a vertically aligned layer of the car stack: each major automaker group anchoring one holographic-display champion, shrinking the open market for independent suppliers and raising the bar for any new entrant without an OEM anchor.
  • Automotive AR hardware joins the broader run of sensor-and-perception auto tech funded at premium valuations — Quanergy's $1.59B lidar round and Vayyar's radar-chip raise among them — leaving the sector exposed if OEM deployment timelines slip, as later Envisics tranche-based raises suggest investors already price cautiously.

The trend: Automakers are increasingly taking direct equity stakes in holographic-display and perception startups to lock in in-cabin AR differentiation, making OEMs both customers and kingmakers of their suppliers.