VANCOUVER, British Columbia (BRAIN) — Recon Instruments, which plans to offer a "heads-up display" cycling sunglass, has received an investment from the venture capital division of Motorola Solutions, which manufactures communications devices for business and government.
The investment and collaboration signals that Recon is looking beyond the sports market at industrial and safety applications for its technology.
Recon already ships a heads-up display goggle for skiing and snowboarding. Last June it announced its cycling glass. Delivery has been delayed several times and the company is now promising to fulfill orders in "late spring 2014." The company received an investment from Intel last year.
Recon said the investment from Motorola Solutions will be used to accelerate product development and to ramp up global marketing and distribution.
While the Jet sunglass was initially marketed specifically for cycling, the technology has other applications and Recon CEO Dan Eisenhardt said the Motorola investment will help it move into industrial and public safety markets.
"Motorola Solutions is a global leader in ruggedized communication devices and data services, designed to perform in the most high-stress, high-focus situations imaginable, so the synergy is clear and powerful," Eisenhardt said.
Motorola Solutions Venture Capital is the strategic equity investment arm of Motorola Solutions. Motorola Solutions is the business and government communications division of the original Motorola company, based in Illinois. The other half of the original company, involved in the cell phone business, was spun off as Motorola Mobility in 2011 and purchased by Google in 2012. Google announced this year it was selling that business to Lenovo.
