The New Zealand Herald: Getting to grips with the metaverse: StretchSense raises $13m
We’re also delighted that New Zealand’s largest newspaper, the New Zealand Herald, has covered our recent NZD $13 million capital raise with investment partners Par Equity and Global from Day One. Their article is behind a paywall however a video the Herald created about the capital raise is available to watch for free:
Getting to grips with the metaverse: StretchSense raises $13m | The New Zealand Herald
You can also read about the capital raise in our press release, included below.
StretchSense finalises $13.3m capital raise with major investment from Par Equity
4 Nov 2022, AKL: StretchSense, a global leader in high-precision motion capture technology for the gaming and animation sectors has completed a NZ$13.3m series A led by Par Equity, supported by existing investor GD1 and Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s national economic development agency.
Founded in 2012 by CEO Dr. Benjamin O’Brien, Chief Technology Officer Dr. Todd Gisby, and bioengineering Professor Iain Anderson, StretchSense is headquartered in Auckland with offices in Seattle and Edinburgh. The company has more than 200 gaming and visual effects (VFX) studios using its technology worldwide.
The investment will further accelerate StretchSense’s global expansion. It plans to grow its world-class engineering team to meet strong customer interest in the compatibility of its technology with leading motion capture and VR tools in the market. It will also focus on developing new sensor technology to enable high-precision tracking in emerging applications such as the rapidly-developing corporate virtual training industry which is estimated to be worth more than $US300 billion in 20221 and expected to grow to more than $US550 billion by 2027.
StretchSense will expand its European headquarters in Edinburgh with the establishment of a Centre of Excellence in AI and Spatial Computing. To meet strong global demand for its technology it is expanding both sales and service teams across its three offices, with a strong focus on customer support and building its burgeoning channel and technology partnerships.
“At StretchSense we believe that technology enabled garments are needed to humanize access to virtual worlds. We have already proven this model by revolutionising how studios capture highly precise, detailed hand movements in the gaming and VFX industries. With this investment we are expanding into the metaverse, focussed on the key partnerships, new technology, and investments in scale needed to build the future of how people will create, learn, work, and play”, says O’Brien.
Chintaka Ranatunga, Founding Partner of GD1, said: “We are delighted to keep supporting StretchSense on their journey to become a global leader in human machine interaction. We look forward to working with Par Equity and the StretchSense team on scaling the company and further international expansion.”
Tom Croy, Senior Investment Manager for Edinburgh based Par Equity, said: “StretchSense has developed technology that is transforming the creative industries sector including gaming and virtual effects, they have hundreds of customers across the globe, and is well positioned to move into use cases in the metaverse. We look forward to being on the journey with Ben, Todd, and the rest of the team on the journey ahead.”
