Dubai – Sharikat Mubasher: XPANCEO, a pioneering deep tech company developing AI-powered smart contact lenses, raised $250 million in Series A funding, pushing its valuation to $1.35 billion and officially joining the unicorn club.

Led by Opportunity Venture, the round will accelerate XPANCEO’s push to commercialize the world’s first all-in-one smart lens. The device aims to integrate extended reality (XR), real-time health monitoring, night vision, and zoom, effectively replacing smartphones and other personal gadgets with a seamless, invisible interface, as per a recent press release.

Since its $40 million seed round in 2023, XPANCEO has developed 15 working prototypes—including lenses for AR vision, intraocular pressure monitoring, wireless charging, glucose detection, and night vision—earning 24 international awards and contributing to 110 scientific publications.

Co-founded by Roman Axelrod and Valentyn S. Volkov, the company has doubled its team and expanded global research partnerships with institutions like the University of Manchester and the National University of Singapore.