HaptX raises more money to meet the demand for its haptic gloves that help business customers working in virtual and robotic reality.
The company has just secured $ 12 million from existing investors, including Verizon Ventures, Mason Avenue Investments, Taylor Frigon Capital Partners and Upheaval Investments. Total funding to date is $ 31 million.
Founded in 2012 and formerly known as AxonVR, the company’s technology promises to offer realistic tactile feedback to users looking for virtual reality objects, thanks to the glove system’s microfluidics that physically and accurately move the skin of the hands and fingers. the user.
The gloves work with a headset and a virtual reality tracker, connected to a central control box and allow users to move around virtual environments and feel virtual objects with their hands.
Customers use gloves to form their template; design and test new vehicles; and remote control of robots, among other use cases.
HaptX launched the HaptX Gloves DK2 in January and said all inventory has been exhausted. It will use the funding to launch a second production.
The company is also moving its headquarters to the Seattle area, where it was originally launched before moving to California and will open a new 15,000-square-foot space. The 25-person operation will maintain two offices in Redmond, Washington, and San Luis Obispo, California.
HaptX CEO Jake Rubin helped start the company in 2012 at the age of 22 with co-founder Bob Crockett.
Virtual and augmented reality has not yet reached conventional consumers, as some predicted but enterprise-focused start-ups, such as HaptX, have found strength. Big tech companies like Facebook and Apple also continue to invest in this technology and investors continue to bet.