$50 Million Investment Round for Leap Motion Finger Tracking Technology

When did you think that the gesture based interface tech of Minority Report would be a reality? That time is drawing near thanks to Leap Motion.

$50-million USD for Development of VR Finger Tracking TechnologyClick To Tweet

Bid Farewell to Hand-held Controllers

2017’s E3 showed us that VR is here to stay.

Despite that, many virtual or augmented reality options do not feature a truly interactive world. You must use controllers or something similar in order to manipulate the virtual world seen through the headset.

Leap Motion seeks to revolutionize this with their hand and finger tracking technology thereby eliminating controllers.

“Since its founding in 2010, Leap Motion has become the recognized leader in motion tracking for VR/AR. Leap Motion products are used by leading technology companies such as Qualcomm, and by industrial designers, innovation labs, and academic researchers throughout the world to integrate motion tracking into a multitude of applications – from desktop and the Internet of Things, to virtual and augmented reality.”
– Leap Motion News

The Trouble With Finger Tracking Tech

Considering that finger tracking is a notoriously difficult problem to solve, some investors must have been skeptical. One of the biggest questions regarding finger tracking technology is when to initiate interaction. Someone could merely need to stretch their wrist and end up throwing a lamp halfway across the virtual room.

As recommended on the Leap Motion blog, gestures that do not fall under “casual movement” are required to initiate interaction–thus hopefully fixing that problem.

Field of view and reach range are two more glaring issues, but Leap Motion has a solution for those, too.

As a result of their fervor and thorough approach, J.P. Morgan Chase saw the potential of Leap Motion and took the plunge to invest.

Utilizing the $50 million USD Series C funding, the hand and finger tracking technology company and J.P. Morgan Chase aim to increase global expansion with a particular focus on Asia.

With new headsets coming very soon from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and others, Leap Motion is poised to take VR and AR to a new level. After all, their mission is “…to remove the barriers between people and technology”.