How LEAP Rocket Fuel accelerated Brelyon’s global growth

“Rocket Fuel was a pivotal moment for us to catalyse our presence in the region.”

Winning LEAP Rocket Fuel 2025 marked the start of a new phase for Brelyon. Since taking the Growth Stage title, the Silicon Valley deep tech company has won the Entrepreneurship World Cup, begun exploring a Saudi expansion and introduced its technology to customers across the region.

The startup develops headset-free immersive display technology that creates ultra-large virtual screens without requiring users to wear XR hardware. Beyond the competition alone, the event gave Brelyon an opportunity to exhibit alongside Mobily, connect with regional customers and investors, and gauge the appetite for its latest technology.

“We are technology pioneers with backgrounds in optics and computer graphics, bringing a layer of immersion and intelligence to screens across different industries,” said Barmak Heshmat (Founder and CEO at Brelyon). 

One of its innovations is Visual Engine, which combines Brelyon's immersive display technology with AI-assisted workflows, helping operators interpret complex information faster. Brelyon used LEAP as a platform to get Visual Engine in front of the eyes of potential enterprise and government clients in the region – and some of those relationships have continued to date. 

Why Brelyon bet against the headset

Brelyon's technology challenges one of the biggest assumptions in immersive computing: that virtual experiences require people to wear a headset.

Ironically, that conviction came from Heshmat's own experience building them – because watching the industry invest billions into XR hardware convinced him there was another opportunity.

“I realised that wearing something on your face is a big ask, and there isn’t as much content made for such immersive experiences. So I realised there is this gap in the market where people want and need the immersion, but don't want to wear something on their face to access it.”

His reasoning became the foundation of the company: 

“My logic was that if headsets are going to be the cellphones of the future, then there should still be a market for the laptop or desktop version of XR. That idea became our first product, Ultra Reality – the world's first headset-free virtual display. And the rest is history.” 

Building beyond a single product

While Brelyon first became known for immersive displays, the company now sees opportunities across several sectors.

“Critical visualisation, automotive and enterprise remain our top three revenue-generating markets,” said Heshmat. And looking ahead, he believes some of the strongest opportunities lie in environments where operators need to absorb and interpret large volumes of visual information.

“There are definitely lots of immediate opportunities in teleoperations, and operation centres in general – you need a large high fidelity image and Brelyon delivers 122" high fidelity image in compact form factor.” 

Alongside the hardware, Visual Engine is opening another avenue for growth. The company recently showcased some of its solutions with SoftBank in SusHi Tech in Japan – “That should give you some clues on where we’re headed with our Visual Engine.” 

How LEAP changed Brelyon's view of Saudi Arabia 

Like many of our visitors across the event, Heshmat left LEAP with a new perspective on Saudi Arabia. 

“LEAP was better than I expected; to be honest I had no expectations coming in because it’s a rather new development in the global scene, but the show itself was much bigger and more vibrant than I anticipated.” 

Brelyon is already an international business. It is headquartered in Silicon Valley, established its manufacturing operations through Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA), where it now runs its own factory, and made its first hire in Japan last year with support from JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization).

And against that backdrop, Heshmat now sees Saudi Arabia following a similar path as an entry point for international startups.

“Conferences like LEAP are becoming a similar softlanding platform for Silicon Valley startups in the MENA region. They send a positive signal that Saudi wants to be the center hub for technology and startups coming to the region, and show those companies they’re going to find allies to help them expand here.” 

Are you ready to LEAP? 

For Brelyon, LEAP wasn't simply another stop on the events calendar. It became the point where conversations with customers, investors and regional partners began to turn into long-term opportunities.

Every year, the LEAP Rocket Fuel Startup Competition connects ambitious startups with the people who can help them scale. Discover how the conversations that begin at LEAP could drive the next chapter of your company's journey.

Explore our Startup and Scaleup programme, and register your interest for 2027.