Participated · Equity · Jan 2023

Gastrograph AI offers a predictive human sensory perception platform powered by the company’s proprietary sensory database and machine‑learning algorithms. The company launched SensoryLink, a web‑based interactive Platform as a Service (PaaS), to let users visualize and act on predictive insights. Its system delivers full‑cycle capabilities from curated data collection via a mobile app to high‑resolution predictions of flavor, aroma, and texture preferences across demographic segments. The platform is aimed at helping food and beverage companies create new products, optimize brands, and enter new markets with targeted flavor profiles. Gastrograph AI positions its insights as actionable, real‑time consumer preference information to speed decision‑making for major CPG firms. The company is described in filings as Analytical Flavor Systems, Inc., and is New York–based. Gastrograph AI provides predictive analytics for food and beverage companies, using machine learning to forecast how consumers will perceive flavors. The company collects data from professional tasters across 600–1,000 variables per tasting covering aroma, flavor and texture to build high-resolution taste profiles. It uses those profiles to recommend product reformulations for different demographics and to guide new product development in target markets. More than 75% of Gastrograph’s customers are outside the U.S., with 50% in Asia, and the company is based in New York City. Gastrograph has a partnership with Cornes Technology that began after Cornes approached the startup in 2015 and the two spent two years developing the relationship. CEO Jason Cohen emphasizes that the firm relies on human tasters and their data as the foundation for its machine-learning models rather than replacing humans with machines. The startup recently closed a $4 million Series A to scale its predictive analytics offerings.

Participated · Equity · Jul 2019

Luminar builds lidar hardware and a perception stack aimed at enabling highway autonomy for passenger vehicles and trucks. Its technology is intended for series production and cost-effective deployment, with founder Austin Russell emphasizing highway use cases as the shortest path to commercialization. The company has announced OEM partnerships, including a deal with Volvo to equip vehicles beginning in 2022 and collaboration with Torc Robotics on autonomous trucking. Luminar’s sensors are being integrated into plans for Freightliner Cascadia trucks as part of Daimler’s push toward Level 4 on-highway automation. Financially, Luminar is going public via a merger with Gores Metropoulos Inc., having raised $170 million as part of that transaction. Daimler Trucks’ division also made an undisclosed strategic investment in the company. Luminar develops compact lidar hardware and a perception software platform for production vehicles. It unveiled Iris, a new lidar unit about a third the size of its prior test unit and designed for easier integration into cars and trucks. Iris is priced under $1,000 per unit for serious autonomy use and about $500 for a more limited ADAS version. The company says Iris is slated to launch commercially on production vehicles beginning in 2022 and is negotiating more than $1 billion in contracts. Luminar has been building a perception team of roughly 60 people split between Palo Alto and Orlando and recently hired Christoph Schroder as VP of Software. The company has raised over $250 million to date, supporting its push from lab prototypes toward series production. Luminar develops lidar hardware and a perception development platform that analyzes high-resolution 3D point-cloud data for autonomous vehicles. The platform performs detection and labeling of objects, taking on some perception duties rather than leaving that entirely to vehicle systems, and passes high-confidence information to the vehicle's decision-making software. Founder and CEO Austin Russell emphasized leveraging richer 3D data rather than applying 2D algorithms, and said the platform itself does not make driving decisions. Volvo Cars' Tech Fund made an undisclosed investment and is the first customer for the perception platform; Volvo constrained the system’s initial use to highway driving. Luminar has partnerships with four major OEMs, including the Toyota Research Institute and Volvo, with two other partners undisclosed, and the company intends to offer the standardized platform only to partners. No financial terms beyond Volvo's undisclosed investment were disclosed in the article.

Participated · Series C · Dec 2018

Ultraleap builds mid-air haptics and hand-tracking systems that use ultrasound to replicate touch, a technology demonstrated at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2017 and originating from CEO Tom Carter’s postgraduate research. The company merged with Leap Motion to combine hand tracking with mid-air haptics and has developed a fifth-generation hand-tracking platform called Gemini. Gemini is already integrated into multiple platforms and third-party hardware, including Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 chipset and Varjo’s VR-3 and XR-3 headsets. Ultraleap is working with commercial customers such as PepsiCo and Lego for public interfaces and with automakers including DS Automobiles and suppliers like Hosiden for in-cabin experiences. The company plans to take Gemini to different operating systems, increase investment in tooling and R&D, and enable developers to expand applications across XR, automotive, and out-of-home use cases. Ultraleap recently raised an $82 million Series D to accelerate those efforts, citing metaverse interest and the pandemic-driven shift toward touchless interfaces as fundraising drivers. Ultrahaptics develops mid-air touch technology that projects ultrasound-driven tactile sensations using proprietary algorithms and supporting hardware. Founded in 2013 and based on technology developed at the University of Bristol, the company enables users to feel and interact with virtual objects and controls via freehand gestures. It is engaged with blue-chip customers across automotive (including concept vehicles with Bosch and Harman), digital signage, location-based entertainment, industrial controls, medical interfaces, VR games and AR/VR enterprise applications. The company also supports the international academic community through a program designed to enable additional haptics research and development. Ultrahaptics raised £35m ($45m) in a Series C and intends to use the funds to further develop and commercialize its haptic technology in next-generation user interfaces and experiences. Led by CEO Steve Cliffe, the company is positioning for broader commercialization across key verticals. Ultrahaptics develops a platform that uses ultrasound waves to construct 3D, touchable sensations in mid-air, enabling users to flip invisible switches and turn dials without physical contact. The company positions the technology as a solution for VR/AR input and is exploring integrations both as an attached headset device and as a tabletop experience. A major commercial focus is automotive: Ultrahaptics is working with partners to embed its haptics into car dashboards for gesture-based controls. The company currently offers a Touch development kit for developers and plans a quarter-based update to provide a library of sensations for integration. Ultrahaptics is still early in finding widespread use cases but is actively seeking customers across industries. Financially, the company recently completed a Series B and has raised nearly $40 million to date. Ultrahaptics is a Bristol, UK-based developer and licensor of mid-air haptic technologies. The company's core product uses ultrasound to project tactile sensations through the air so users can feel touch-less buttons, receive feedback for mid-air gestures, or interact with virtual objects without wearing or touching devices. Led by CEO Steve Cliffe and CTO Tom Carter, Ultrahaptics develops and licenses its mid-air haptics technology to partners. The company raised £10.1m in a Series A funding round, bringing total funding to £11.3m to date. Ultrahaptics intends to use the funds for continued development of its ultrasound-based technology. Ultrahaptics has developed ultrasonic free-space haptics technology that creates the sensation of touch in mid-air by projecting ultrasound. Users can hold their hand over ultrasound speakers to feel virtual objects and operate switches and buttons. The company says the technology can be applied to a wide range of interfaces and is already engaged with key partners in multiple markets. Management describes the innovation as disruptive to how people interface with technology and sees near‑term work on broadening application areas. Financially, Ultrahaptics is receiving grant support to advance commercial development and applications. The company is based in Bristol, England.