Holographic technology firm Holoxica has entered liquidation due to cashflow challenges - with bosses saying it could not continue without significant investment even though its tech had attracted international interest.
Shona Campbell, insolvency partner at business advisory and accountancy firm Henderson Loggie, has been appointed as liquidator of Edinburgh-based Holoxica - saying “changes in trading conditions because of Brexit and the pandemic have created cashflow challenges for the company”.
Now the company’s tech and IP will be put on the market - and its liquidators say they hope it will attract strong interest.
Holoxica CEO Wendy Lamin said: “I am very proud of our technology and the many successes we have achieved but it’s been a tough environment for small businesses and, despite grant funding and great support from Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and small investors, Holoxica can’t continue in its present form.
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“We have attracted global interest in our technology. It has potential to change the face of medical consultations and teaching at scale, reduce waiting lists and costs for the NHS and has proven applications in commerce, telecom and defence.
“We have shown that there is a more natural and collaborative way to do 3D, holograms and the metaverse besides using virtual reality and augmented reality headsets, but we have been just ahead of the times. We don’t have the huge marketing budgets of Google, Microsoft, Facebook and others and scale up investment is required.”
Holoxica was founded in 2008 to develop dynamically changeable holographic displays where multiple people can experience full colour motion video 3D images simultaneously without wearing headsets.
Its world firsts included a pioneering holographic 3D anatomy atlas.
In 2019 it pivoted from hardware to software, launching Telepresence (2020) and Telexistence (2021) technologies to allow full two-way 3D video conferencing and remote 3D visualisation with robotics or haptics.
More recently Holoxica had seen international interest in using its technology for providing emergency medical care in space, meaning astronauts could work with medical experts on the ground using 3D videoconferencing. The technology was demonstrated at COP26 in a 5G-to-5G 3D videochat with Nokia, the University of Glasgow and the Scotland 5G Centre.
Meanwhile, Holoxica’s defence tech allowed a human operator to be fully immersed and remotely ‘telepresent’ by using robots in hazardous situations such as bomb disposal, de-mining or nuclear decommissioning. In 2022 it developed a Human Digital Twin concept demonstrator for the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and Qinetiq.
Shona Campbell, head of insolvency at Henderson Loggie, said: “Holoxica has developed innovative and respected technology and market ready products that have attracted significant grant funding and interest from global brands and defence organisations but it cannot continue trading without further investment.
“It offers organisations with existing market reach in 3D visualisation and medical imaging the opportunity to acquire valuable intellectual property, both in hardware and software.”
