Whether you’re browsing this article on your computer or mobile device, you’ve probably got a camera pointed right at you, but it’s not being leveraged. Malmö-based Crunchfish wants to take advantage of the camera for a touchless UI paradigm, and has just raised a €2.4 million round to continue their expansion.
Watching their video (embedded below), my first reaction was it seems a bit silly and perhaps more error prone to not touch the phone or tablet you’re already holding. Like it’s right there- just tap it to go to the next page in your ebook. There’s no sense going all ‘Minority Report’ when it’s right there. That being said, screen real estate is valuable on portable devices, and putting the ‘back’ button into a gesture could save a few taps and pixels. It makes sense to explore how to best use the camera that’s already pointed towards users, especially when it comes to games and other devices.
The company seems to be doing very well, and their technology works will all major mobile and desktop operating systems. Because it needs no hardware changes, it’s easy to scale up. Crunchfish also claims to have closed a deal with two of China’s major domestic mobile players, and will be released on their current and future releases starting this summer.
Getting into the new ownership structure, two new investors have come onboard, but they write in their press release:
The majority of the investment 12,3m SEK is made by the two main owners in the company, Sheikh Mohammed Al Amoudi and Crunchfish Chairman Joachim Samuelsson. The other current investor Intesa AB has decided to increase its shareholding by investing 1,7 mSEK. Two new investors Stephan Carlquist and Anders Williamsson have agreed to invest 6 million SEK.
