HaptX Inc. today announced a $23 million strategic funding round that brings its total funding to more than $58 million. The Redmond, Wash.-based company is developing haptic gloves and sensors for virtual reality, robotic teleoperation, and other applications.
HaptX claimed that its technology “simulates touch sensation with unprecedented realism.” Unlike other haptic gloves, which are limited to vibration and force feedback, HaptX Gloves physically displace the user's skin the way a real object would, said the company. More than 130 points of tactile feedback per hand enable natural interaction and true-contact haptics, it added.
The proceeds from this round fund commercialization of next-generation products building on the success of HaptX's award-winning HaptX Gloves DK2, said the company. Fortune 500 companies and governments around the world have adopted HaptX Gloves for the most demanding applications in training and simulation, industrial design, and robotics.
Investors support robotic sense of touch
AIS Global and Crescent Cove Advisors led HaptX's funding round, with participation from Verizon Ventures, Mason Avenue Investments, and Taylor Frigon Capital Partners. Centerview Partners acted as financial advisor to HaptX.
San Francisco-based Crescent Cove Advisors increased its investment in HaptX in this funding round after providing a $4 million credit facility to HaptX in 2021.
“HaptX has succeeded in generating tremendous customer demand across a wide array of use cases,” said Jun Hong Heng, founder and chief investment officer of Crescent Cove Advisors. “We believe HaptX will play a foundational role in fulfilling the promise of the Metaverse as an immersive 3D successor to today's 2D Internet.”
Established in 2016, Crescent Cove is a multi-asset investment firm focused on emerging industries and technologies. It said it uses its global network of relationships and insights across markets to build businesses and accelerate value creation across its portfolios.
HaptX expands partnership with AIS Global
In conjunction with its latest funding, HaptX has extended its partnership with Advanced Input Systems (AIS) Global. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho-based AIS Global is a leading global designer and manufacturer of human-machine experience (HMX) systems for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide in the medical, commercial, industrial, and gaming markets.
“HaptX and AIS Global have built a deep, successful relationship dedicated to innovation at the cutting edge of the high-growth global haptics market,” said Joe Baddeley, CEO of AIS Global. “AIS Global and KPS are thrilled to provide the resources, commitment, and expertise necessary to support aggressive scaling of HaptX's commercial footprint.”
AIS Global a portfolio company of New York-based KPS Capital Partners. Through its affiliated management entities, KPS is the manager of the KPS Special Situations Funds, a family of investment funds with approximately $13.6 billion of assets under management (as of June 30).
KPS Mid-Cap focuses on investments in the lower end of the middle market that require up to $100 million of initial equity capital. KPS Mid-Cap targets the similar investment opportunities and uses the same strategy that KPS' flagship funds have followed for nearly three decades.
“We are proud to have the commitment of partners like AIS Global and Crescent Cove fueling our efforts to build haptics so lifelike that users can't distinguish between the virtual and the real,” said Jake Rubin, founder and CEO of HaptX. “This funding will enable HaptX to build on the success of HaptX Gloves DK2 with exciting new products that will redefine virtual and robotic interactions.”
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