NEWSROOM

StretchSense motion capture venture finalises $13.3m capital raise

11 November 2022

StretchSense, a global leader in high-precision motion capture technology for the gaming and animation sectors, has recently 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. 

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 venture was first founded in 2012 by CEO Dr Benjamin O’Brien, Chief Technology Officer Dr Todd Gisby, and bioengineering Professor Iain Anderson. O’Brien says he will always be grateful for the support that the University of Auckland provided through the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, UniServices and the Velocity programme administered by the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE). “What we were able to do was very unusual for Ph.D. students and academic staff. The University effectively took a punt on us and created an environment where we were able to learn very quickly which we fully maximised and gave us a valuable head start.” 

Since its inception in 2012, StretchSense has undergone a number of pivots. This recent round of 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.  

CIE Director Darsel Keane says “We are so incredibly thrilled for Ben and the rest of the StretchSense team for this exciting new development for their venture. They were also recently commended in the NZ Hi-Tech Awards for most innovative hardware product, so it’s been a huge year for them. Being an entrepreneur means constant invention, reinvention, tenacity and a growth mindset. StretchSense exemplify all these attributes.”