Portfolio Company Update -Innovative Eyewear Inc

Tekcapital plc

21 August 2026

 

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  21 August 2026

Tekcapital Plc

("Tekcapital", the "Company" or the "Group")

Innovative Eyewear, Inc. Announces Major

New AI and News Features for Lucyd App

Tekcapital Plc (AIM: TEK), the UK intellectual property investment group, notes that its portfolio company Innovative Eyewear, Inc. ("Innovative Eyewear") (NASDAQ: LUCY; LUCYW), the developer and manufacturer of smart eyewear under the Lucyd®, Lucyd Armor®, Reebok®, Eddie Bauer® and Nautica® brands, is pleased to announce that it has developed significant new features for its smart eyewear products, delivered via the Lucyd app for iOS and Android.

Custom Newscasts

The main feature in the update is the addition of the Newscast widget, which allows users to create custom, generative AI news reports to be read out on Lucyd eyewear. The user simply enters the widget and chooses from a list of custom settings, such as interest keywords and the desired length of the newscast. The user can then activate the news report with the "Lucyd News" voice command on Lucyd eyewear, or by triggering it from the widget. The app uses a large language model ("LLM") to create an on-demand news report in the style of a news podcast based on the user's interests, and delivers it to the eyewear nearly instantly. The app pulls recent news to make the report, refreshing with a new report every time the command is given. This feature allows users to quickly track important subjects and stories handsfree and on-the-go, without having to scroll numerous news sites to find the information they are looking for. Vocalising the information in the style of a news podcast makes it more entertaining than simply reading news sites. The feature will be live in the app next week.

Gemini Integration

In addition to ChatGPT and Claude options in the app's AI modules, Innovative Eyewear has added the ability to consult Google's Gemini service for AI image generation and standard LLM queries. The custom application programming interface (API) key entry is planned for the future to allow users to sync this experience with their main Gemini account. The feature is currently live.

Multimodal AI

AI conversations can now take place across the app's visual interface and the audio interface of the glasses seamlessly. Users can pick up a thread started in visual mode in audio mode, and vice-versa, with full conversational and upload context available to the AI. This offers flexible AI support that adjusts to the user's individual needs throughout the day. These multimodal AI chats can be saved and exported. The feature is currently live.

Android Upgrades

Android users receive two useful upgrades in this update. First, they can now set Lucyd as their device-level voice assistant, instantly accessing the Lucyd app's AI models from the phone's action button or from Lucyd glasses, without the need for an additional voice command. Additionally, Android users can now quickly flip between AI models with the new floating Lucyd widget that appears when the assistant is activated.

The new floating Lucyd widget on Android.

The user simply taps the gear in the lower left corner to select their desired LLM to converse with.

Image courtesy Innovative Eyewear, Inc.

Harrison Gross, CEO of Innovative Eyewear, said: "As a constant news reader myself, I have long wanted a better way to learn about what's happening in the world. A custom, AI-generated podcast perfectly tailored to the individual is an elegant solution for cutting down screen time and impulsive scrolling, while still getting the information you want. Additionally, we believe the new Gemini access and improved Android interface will delight our more Google-inclined users. We look forward to continuing to add more features to the Lucyd app, to make our glasses an ever-more customisable tool for our customers."

About Innovative Eyewear Inc.

Innovative Eyewear is a developer and retailer of ChatGPT smart eyewear, under the Lucyd®, Lucyd Armor®, Nautica®, Eddie Bauer® and Reebok® brands. True to our mission to Upgrade Your Eyewear®, our Bluetooth smart glasses allow users to stay safely and ergonomically connected to their digital lives and are offered in hundreds of frame and lens combinations to meet the needs of the optical market. To learn more and explore our continuously evolving collection of smart eyewear, please visit www.lucyd.co.

About Tekcapital plc

Tekcapital creates value from investing in new, university and corporate developed discoveries that can enhance people's lives. Tekcapital is quoted on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: symbol TEK) and is headquartered in the UK. For more information, please visit www.tekcapital.com.

On 6 August 2026 Tekcapital reported its 2026 H1 results[1]. For the six months ended 30 June 2026 net assets rose to US$201.7 million, up from US$55.1 million at 31 December 2025, lifting net asset value per share to US$0.78 from US$0.27. The Company's investment portfolio was valued at US$191.4 million at the period-end, compared with US$46.9 million at 31 December 2025, and generated US$145.5 million in portfolio returns and revenue for the first half of 2026, versus US$6.1 million in the first half of 2025. Profit after tax was US$144.8 million, versus US$5.4 million in the prior half-year period, while operating expenses fell 7.3% to US$0.69 million, reflecting continued cost discipline.

Tekcapital currently owns 259,455 shares of Innovative Eyewear, Inc. (NASDAQ: LUCY).

For further information, please contact:

Tekcapital Plc		Via Flagstaff
Clifford M. Gross, Ph.D.
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nominated Adviser and Broker)		[phone]
Matthew Johnson/Charlie Bouverat (Corporate Finance)/Abigail Wayne / Rob Rees (Corporate Broking)
Flagstaff Strategic and Investor Communications		[phone]
Tim Thompson/Andrea Seymour/Fergus Mellon

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including those relating to new product features and their expected availability. Forward-looking statements are based on Innovative Eyewear's current expectations and assumptions. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe-harbor for forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking expressions, including, but not limited to, "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "future," "intend," "may," "outlook," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would" and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Neither Tekcapital nor Innovative Eyewear Inc. undertakes any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are set forth in Innovative Eyewear's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K under the caption "Risk Factors."

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[1] https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/tekcapital_plc/news/rns/story/rd4428r

 

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