Apple Acquires invrs.io, a One-Employee AI Startup Focused on Photonics
Apple has acquired the assets of invrs.io, a startup specializing in AI-powered light and optics design tools, according to a filing with the European Union.
Over the last 30 days, this is Apple's second acquisition. As first spotted by MacRumors, Apple informed the EU last October that it would “acquire certain assets from and hire the sole equityholder and employee of invrs.io LLC.” The filing states that invrs.io develops open-source frameworks for photonics research, including standardized simulation challenges and a public leaderboard for benchmarking and comparing design results.
The acquisition includes the hiring of invrs.io’s founder, Martin Schubert, who was the company’s only employee.
Invrs.io Focus on AI-Guided Optics Design
According to its GitHub page, invrs.io aims to advance AI-guided design with an initial focus on optics. The company describes optics as critical for components used in augmented and virtual reality, data centers, autonomous vehicles, and related technologies.
Invrs.io’s projects include:
- Standardized photonics design challenges
- Optimization tools for light-based systems
- A public leaderboard for comparing AI-driven design results
The startup’s tools appear to use AI systems to simulate and optimize how light behaves within complex structures.
Schubert previously worked as a research scientist at Meta before founding invrs.io. He also spent more than a decade working on advanced display, chip, and optical technologies at Google and Micron.
Relevance to Apple’s Hardware Portfolio
Photonics involves designing components that manipulate light. The field is relevant to a range of Apple products, including:
- Camera systems
- Displays
- Sensors
- LiDAR scanners
While Apple has not publicly detailed how it plans to integrate invrs.io’s tools or Schubert’s expertise, AI-assisted optics design could support future hardware development across iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision Pro, Apple Glasses, and other products.
Apple did not announce the acquisition separately, and financial terms were not disclosed in the EU filing.
Yay! An area where AI could be a valuable tool. Not sure what Apple plans to do with this beside sell to a company that specializes in lighting development, 3M, maybe. Weird iPhone visuals? A 16 k screen that catches fire? Who knows.
I’ve been using AI powered vid and image processing software for maybe a decade and some of what can be done is amazing. Seems AI does best in fields where outputs are constrained within the area of inquiry.
All that “AI is your best friend” consumer stuff is pointless beyond inventing yet another “tech” nonsense word, “agentic.” MS is looking embarrassingly stupid these days, telling customers they can’t say “Microslop?” Gimme a break.