StretchSense CEO Benjamin O’Brien talks about his motion capture gloves and how his company is changing the motion graphics industry and how we interact with technology. Video / New Zealand Herald
Ben O’Brien, co-founder and CEO of StretchSense, said: “We are working hard to become the future of human-machine interfaces in virtual worlds, giving people a natural, human presence in the virtual world.”
The Oakland-based motion capture glove maker has raised $13 million to continue its comeback and enter the virtual world.
The round was led by Edinburgh-based VC firm Par Equity, supported by VC firm Kiwi Global From Day 1 (current investor) and Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s national economic development agency.
StretchSense made headlines in 2019 after most of its 180 employees were laid off after a $29.6 million deal with Japanese retailer Start Today collapsed. The University of Auckland commercialization unit Uniservices, the government-backed NZ VIF (now NZGCP) and other investors, all out of pocket.
It’s also not the best option for Callaghan Innovation, which has received up to $15 million in related research and development funding – while StretchSense is now hiring again and developing new lines of business, the Crown can still consider it a win.
StretchSense and Start Today are collaborating on the futuristic “ZoZo”, a bodysuit equipped with sensors to better determine ideal body measurements for online clothing shopping. Initial development efforts ran into bugs.
One obvious point is that the Zozo suit, pushing the boundaries of wearables and online shopping, always has high stakes.
Perhaps the biggest lesson, O’Brien says, is to take control of your own product rather than relying on a partner’s decisions.
With the reboot, StretchSense went in the opposite direction, finding a niche in an already established market and working to improve it while maintaining full control over its hardware and software.
But in 2020, the company embarked on a so-called Hollywood comeback. Backed by GD1, the revived StretchSense acquired the two-man Seattle company MoCapNow, which made the MoCap Glove, a close resemblance to the original StretchSense product before ZoZo took over.
Motion capture technology is already well established among film studios and computer game developers, but O’Brien notes that hands are a weakness. After painstaking and costly efforts by actors dressed in sensory suits to capture facial expressions and body movements, the hands can become “paddle-like”, requiring expensive animation after the fact.
StretchSense is entering this market with new MoCap gloves (priced from $4,990 ($8,432) to $8,900 ($15,000) per pair) and Hand Engine software with a $1,490 license ( $2,500) per glove per year.
The company does not disclose any financial figures, but the business is good enough to rebuild up to 60 employees (mostly in New Zealand) and has received $13 million from GD1 and Scots, while venture capital funding is in its infancy. impressive. suddenly not enough. Although he didn’t give a valuation after depositing the money, O’Brien said the Scot holds a minority stake (GD1 is the largest shareholder with a 31% stake, plus 21% through nominees GD1 (small company fund) is the owner of the investment.) .. O’Brien owns 5% of the shares. Scottish Enterprise owns 6% shares and 4% par value.
O’Brien said Auckland would remain his company’s center of operations, but he would also be hiring in Edinburgh – in part because New Zealand was the wrong endpoint for the global tech workforce shortage, but also because StretchSense has many customers in Europe. . It will also help with 24/7 support.
Links to Scotland come from GD1, whose partners Chintaka Ranatunga (Asia), Vignesh Kumar (USA) and John Kells (UK) built an extensive network working overseas before they returned to Auckland to set up a venture capital fund.
What’s next? O’Brien sees the future big StretchSense metaverse as where most of the $13 million in new capital will go.
Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg has been hard at work building on his 3D version of the virtual community, accessed through VR goggles and a handheld controller. To put it mildly, neither users nor investors believe in it.
But for O’Brien, this is the main thing. The StretchSense founder says Metaverse needs an “iPhone moment,” a usability breakthrough that reflects how Apple and its app store have revolutionized the smartphone market. His company wants to fulfill its obligations.
“We believe technology-enabled clothing is essential to humanize access to virtual worlds,” O’Brien said.
“We are already testing this model by revolutionizing the way studios capture highly precise, detailed hand movements in the gaming and VFX [movie visual effects] industries. With this investment, we are expanding into Metaverse, focusing on key partnerships, investments. in new technologies and scale to shape the future of how people create, learn, work and play.”
Post time: Nov-04-2022