Sensetics has secured 1.75 million dollars in pre-seed financing to advance development of its touch-sensing hardware and software platform. The round, raised largely in the spring, was co-led by MetaVC Partners and Fitz Gate Ventures, with additional participation from Blue Sky Capital and AIC Ventures.
The company is developing tools that capture, edit, and transmit tactile data. Its platform incorporates programmable fabrics and software designed to record and replay touch inputs. The technology is based on research from the University of California, Berkeley, and Virginia Tech and is designed to emulate functions of human fingertip mechanoreceptors. According to the company, the system can transmit tactile information from devices including robotic arms, surgical tools, wearables, and other remote sensors.
Sensetics is positioning its technology for industries that rely on force sensing and haptic feedback, including transportation, logistics, manufacturing, medical robotics, and VR/AR tools used in training environments. The company estimates the potential market at more than 10 billion dollars.
The founders are Adam B. Hopkins, chief executive, and Rayne Zheng, chief technology officer. “We see a pivotal moment at the intersection of human-machine interaction and touch technology,” said Hopkins. “Demand for haptic controllers and high resolution tactile sensors is surging in healthcare, industrial, aerospace, defense and robotics applications. Our mission is to make touch the next digital sense and to build a data platform for physical AI comparable in scale and importance to computer vision.”
