Why We Invested in Afference
The next age of computing is upon us and is now called "spatial computing". The industry is undergoing a transition towards a novel medium for content consumption, productivity, and entertainment. Whether it's Meta investing billions of dollars annually or Apple unveiling their newest product since the AirPods, there is a clear race among big tech companies to establish dominance in spatial computing.
These innovations have brought about significant changes in how users interact with digital content. It all began with handheld controllers, which simplified accessibility and relied on less computing power. Now, we are moving towards hand tracking and eye tracking as input methods. The primary concern with this shift is its impact on dexterity.
Dexterity depends on how effectively your senses can perceive specific experiences. Currently, the most crucial senses are vision, sound, and touch. Current hand tracking technology completely eliminates the sense of touch, which was previously achieved through haptic feedback (e.g., vibrations). This feedback is essential for creating truly dexterous experiences.
Afference is developing a mobile, transparent, and universal haptic device based on foundational IP focused on creating an artificial sensation of touch through neurostimulation. Existing haptic devices on the market either rely on standalone hardware or are bulky (and often tethered) devices that are not functional in most use cases. Afference's inaugural prototype, The Phantom, boasts a longer battery life than the average headset, is non-invasive - enabling hand tracking capabilities -, and is compatible with any device.
Our team at Konvoy is thrilled to support Jacob Segil, Dustin Tyler, and the rest of the team through a $1.5 million Pre-Seed round, alongside Pathway Bioventures and angel investors. Since its founding in 2022, the company's profound expertise in solving challenging problems has paved the way for enterprise and consumer customers to revolutionize their interaction with the digital world.
We are excited to be part of this incredible journey.
