Senseg Will Revolutionize How You Feel Touch Screens
Yesterday I had the chance to meet up with a Finnish startup that hasn't been making headlines all that much - Senseg. Understandably too, they've been busy building their technology for the previous years. Back in 2008 they announced investments from ASI and Vera Ventures (see our coverage). Since then, I heard today, the company hasn't issued any press releases at all. You might think this is warning signal of some sort, but it's not. The company has been busy developing their hardware as well as software. I was able to test their demos and they felt, literally, really good.
Senseg Touch Technology In Production In A Year
We first wrote about Senseg, a Finnish company developing a haptic interface for all kinds of screen, when it had just been chosen to be part of a Finnish delegation of seven companies to pitch their offering to Israeli VCs about a year ago. Senseg told us earlier on they are looking into getting the first products in the market during the 2009 and it seems they are more or less in schedule by telling CrunchGear's John Biggs that the company "expects to have some working devices in production in a year".
Biggs is currently visiting Finland and met Senseg to get a better understanding of their technology (read the full story at CrunchGear here). It's hard not to think of iPhone when you watch the video, but do try, since I'm sure there are plenty of interested customers beyond Cupertino (video below by CrunchGear).
IVA conference prepping: killer advice on pitching to VCs
Thanks for Peter in helping out with the video conversion tech.
(NB! video in Finnish; Length 6min.)
Skype founders fund Senseg
The investment groups Ambient Sound Investments or ASI for short (from Skype fame) and Seed Fund Vera make an equity investment in Senseg, a Finnish company developing a breakthrough touch interface technology. The sum of the investment remains undisclosed.
Senseg is one of the startups whose journey to Israel to meet Israeli investors we have been following. It only makes sense that Senseg comes out with the announcement right before they pitch to the local VCs on Wednesday, May the 21th to capture the full benefit of the announcement.
Senseg has developed a new technology to produce touch-like sensations. The technology has a wide range of applications, for example generating the feeling of virtual buttons on smooth surfaces such as mobile phones and other touch screens. Iphone with a keyboard you can actually feel, anyone?
Dr. Ville Mäkinen, Senseg's CEO, described the technology nothing short of revolutionary:
Senseg's technology is something completely different. It is a novel communications technology based on human sensation. [...] The technology has unrepresented potential. I can be licenced easily and used in hundreds of different ways and applications. Senseg's technology can therefore initiate a significant and fundamental change in how consumer gadgets are designed and used.
According to Moaffak Ahmed, Chairman of Senseg, the technology will be available for a select group of equipment manufacturers in the second half of 2008 and be officially launched when the first products are introduced to the market, which he expects to be in 2009.
Arctic Startup will follow Sensig and other Finnish startups throughout the week and report on how they manage to attract attension from the VC scene in Israel.
Learning from Israel
I interviewed Mr Pekka Roine last week about the initiative, that we've written here, to take Finnish startups to Israel to learn their secrets of success. Mr Roine has been sitting in numerous company boards both in Finland and in Israel. He also has an understanding of the differences between these two countries many would crave for.
I personally wondered why the initiative was put forward by individuals such as Mr Roine, Mr Juha Ruohonen and Greater Helsinki Promotion and not the members of parliament. After discussing for a good half an hour I understood why.
To understand the backgrounds of this exchange, one must understand Israel and what they have gone through in the last 15 years or so. Israel is one of the leading incubators and accelerators of startups in the high tech industry. During the last 15 years, Israel has "sent" more than 100 companies to Nasdaq. They also have a very systematic way of doing this and it does not rely on assumptions such as the "connections between the jews in Israel and America" or any nonsense of that sort.
However, the story goes further back. In 2004, an event was organised in Finland, followig the signing of an Agreement of Understanding between the two countries on the government level. The agreement creates the framework to work together to increase the chances of cross border co-operation and eventually, success. Needless to say such an agreement did not work very well.
In May 2006, Erkki Virtanen, the permanent secretary of TEM, together with a delegation of business and government executives visited Israel to further deepen the understanding. After the visit the understanding and keys to success began to unfold.
February this year, the chairman of the Israeli Venture Association was over for a visit in Finland and invited Finnish companies over. The visit is timed in sync with the IVA's annual conference which gathers a lot of people from many areas of business.
The goal of the visit for the Finnish delegation this time is three fold; 1) there are lots of Israeli startups and knowledge to be shared, 2) Israeli investors are present and 3) many international investors are at the event as well.
When the program for the visit was announced in February, Greater Helsinki Promotion received applications from about 20 companies. Seven have been considered qualified for the visit. The companies travelling to Israel are Ball-it.com, Concilio Networks, Eniram, EpiCrystals, Ramblas Digital, SenseG, and Whatamap.
These seven companies will visit Israel in two weeks time. IVA's conference is held on the 19th and 20th of May. After the conference the Finnish startups will have a chance to pitch to some Israeli startups and investors and get feedback from them, perhaps land an investment deal as well.
The program is primarily funded through sponsorship from Greater Helsinki Promotion and Technopolis Ventures BornGlobal, but there is a lot of work put in place pro bono.
Arctic Startup will be following the event very closely and we'll be reporting on the outcome of the conference later in May.
