Port 6, a Finnish startup innovating human computer interaction, has raised €1 million in seed funding. The round was led by investment fund Superangel, and saw participation from Superhero Capital, Charlotta Björnberg-Paul, as well as and the founders of Pipedrive: Urmas Purde, Timo Rein, and Peep Vain.
The company’s story got its start as classically trained pianist Jamin Hu, one of the founders, noticed he had a tendency to practice his piano or even typing his thoughts out in mid air. He thought to himself: “How cool would it be if a computer knew what my hand was doing at any point in time?” This thought led to the rapid development of a prototype which could capture his hands’ movements.
Now, Port 6 is building the AI-driven, biometrics-based technologies that allow creativity and interaction in augmented and virtual computing platforms at a level so powerful, intuitive, and liberating it feels like a sixth sense.
Founded in 2020, the company’s first prototype enables typing, gaming, playing musical instruments, creating artwork, controlling an operating system, and many more use cases with only a wristband.
“We believe that the future of computing devices lie beyond the smartphone – in technologies that will help us become more present, focused, and truly connected with the world around us,” said Ohto Pentikäinen, CEO of Port 6.
“Augmented and virtual realities are expected to become the next leading computing platforms – the largest step forward in mobile computing since the smartphone. The Port 6 approach to solving a fundamental challenge of implementing these technologies into everyday lives, will provide immense value for the industry,” said Marek Kiisa, Partner at Superangel.
The team – consisting of research scientists, electrical engineers, data scientists, designers, and Miklu Silvanto (ex-Apple) and Markku Mäkeläinen (ex-Facebook) as advisors – wants to build the leading interaction laboratory in Europe and the world-class knowledge to create the next era of human computer interaction.
