Ultrahaptics raises $23M Series B for ultrasound-based “touchless interfaces” that users can feel, bringing total raised to about $40M
As huge tech companies continue to dump money into VR and AR technology looking to convince us digital objects in front of us are actually real …
Context & Ripple Effects
In mid-2017, Ultrahaptics' $23M Series B put it among the better-funded startups betting that XR needs an input layer beyond handheld controllers — weeks before Leap Motion's $50M Series C validated the same thesis for camera-based hand tracking. The two rounds framed a split in the field: cameras that see hands versus ultrasound that lets users feel virtual objects without touching anything.
That bet compounded over the following years: the company reorganized as Ultraleap and went on to raise an $82M Series D backed by Tencent in 2021, while adjacent approaches drew their own capital — HaptX's gloves with realistic haptic feedback for industrial VR and UltraSense Systems' ultrasound sensing through metal, glass, and wood.
First-order effects
- The $23M gives Ultrahaptics roughly $40M total to move ultrasound haptics from demo rigs toward integration with VR/AR headset makers, who at the time had no native way to render touch.
- It puts Ultrahaptics in direct competition with two rival input stacks on parallel funding tracks: Leap Motion's camera-based hand tracking and HaptX's glove-based force feedback.
Second-order effects
- Headset manufacturers gain a menu of competing interaction layers rather than building one in-house, shifting bargaining power toward whichever specialist — Ultrahaptics, Leap Motion, or HaptX — lands reference-design status first.
- UltraSense's later round shows the same ultrasound physics being pulled into adjacent markets like gesture sensing through solid surfaces, widening the supplier base for touchless interfaces beyond VR.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, XR interaction consolidates into a small set of venture-backed component specialists that headset platforms license rather than develop internally — mirroring how sensors and chipsets became outsourced layers of the smartphone supply chain.
- Strategic money such as Tencent's eventual participation in Ultraleap's Series D points toward national ecosystems treating touchless-input IP as a strategic asset worth owning rather than a niche peripheral market.
The trend: XR is assembling its input layer from specialized venture-funded companies — hand tracking, ultrasound haptics, and haptic gloves — as headset makers buy interaction rather than build it.