Sensel, which is developing the next generation of touch, force, and haptics technologies, has raised $18.8M in Series B funding. Since its inception in 2013, Sensel has raised nearly $57M.
Lenovo, in particular, joined in on the act this time. To date, the company has been one of Sensel‘s most important hardware partners.
The funding will be used to expand the company’s technology and R&D for future goods, according to the US-based company.
Sensel shipped its touchpad in the ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga and the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio after completing its Series A fundraising in 2020. The company now wants to expand by increasing its manufacturing capacity.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Lenovo to our family of investors,” said Sensel CEO and Co-founder Ilya Rosenberg. “Working with Lenovo over the past few years has been an immensely rewarding experience for the Sensel team. We’re proud to be an integral part of the fantastic touchpad in the ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga, which I happen to use every day. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with Lenovo to bring the bleeding edge of our smart surface technologies (which combine touch, force, and haptics) to future generations of Lenovo’s wonderful line of laptops.”
“Sensel’s goal of shipping high volume yet cost-effective haptic touchpads will be realized with our strategic module partner, GLT,” said Harsha Rao, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Sensel. “With any cutting-edge technology, rapidly scaling manufacturing is the holy grail. This partnership is critical to Sensel’s next phase, as it brings sophisticated automation, scale, and manufacturability to our innovative solutions.”
Idea behind Sensel
Ilya Rosenberg and Aaron Zarraga founded Sensel in 2013 to create the next generation of input devices. The commercial customers will be able to create thinner form factors, industrial designs, and amazing customer experiences thanks to the architecture, which combines touch, force, and haptics into a single solution.
In 2015, Sensel introduced the Morph, a tactile controller with the endless adaptability of a touchscreen. By introducing haptic touchpads in Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga and Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Studio in 2021, Sensel claims to redefine the PC laptop market.
