2015: The Spark
Sly, Isaac, and Mau met at Singularity University in 2015, a Google/NASA sponsored program with a call to action to positively impact a billion people in the next ten years. A fortunate encounter over a shared vision eventually inspired us to launch our own company together.
2016: The First Prototype
After wrapping up our lives abroad, we moved to LA. We built our first proof-of-concept (a clunky, massive prototype hidden under a table), and set out to raise our first VC-led round.
2017: Breaking New Ground
After hiring our core team, our lives revolved around 10-week iterations. Our technology matured. The device became smaller. The software more robust. We forged forward into new territory, testing and pushing the limits of immersive technology along the way.
2018: A Demo To Go
A new round of investment allowed us to continue growing the team, resulting in a new portable system. We finally took our technology on tour; from Silicon Valley to Seattle; and New York to Florida with a pit stop in Germany. We built strategic relationships with major players, and received valuable feedback that would inform our next steps.
2019: A Virtual High Five
In early 2019, soon after delivering our first beta units, we realized a long awaited milestone: the first virtual high five. We created a digital touch-communication experience, allowing two people to pass an object back and forth with their bare hands from hundreds of miles away.
2019: Out of Stealth
We were fortunate to find the right partners, securing $12M in Series A funding led by M13 Ventures (Lyft, Pinterest, Ring), with participation from Vulcan Capital, LionTree Partners, and others. This kicked off a new chapter — moving our current headquarters to a new hub in Marina Del Rey and nearly doubling the team in a couple of months.
2020: Production Units
The year marked an important milestone as we stepped into the world of production-grade manufacturing with our partners. The first production units are designed by the illustrious Richard Kim and used to develop the the world's first tactile virtual experiences.
2021: Consumer Product
Empowered by momentum in the market, a clear consumer problem, and insightful user research, we set out to build a consumer product this year. We refined our hardware device and developed a Quest 2 app and mobile app that brought touch and emotion to virtual experiences.
2022: Emerge Home
We developed, launched, sold out, and shipped our flagship product: Emerge Home. A category-defining product that encompasses 6 years of R&D around ultrasound, virtual connection, and the bonding power of play now lives in the homes of our Beta Community.
Leadership
Leading a growing team of engineers, researchers, and storytellers.
Sly Lee — Co-Founder, Co-CEO
Sly is a first generation American of Singaporean immigrants. His passion for human connection stems from his childhood in Mississippi, and work in developing countries for three years. He’s driven by empathetic design of cutting edge technologies for positive impact. He is a Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2018 recipient, Advisor to The Hydrous, a Singularity University Global Solutions Program 2015 Alumnus, World Economic Forum Global Future Council Member for AR/VR, and can be found surfing Venice Breakwater most mornings.
Isaac Castro García — Co-Founder, Co-CEO
Isaac was born in Spain and has been an immigrant his whole life. He began his career in the healthcare industry at Siemens and has remained passionate about creating technologies to improve people's lives. As a personal project, Isaac designed a medical device for more effective cancer treatment, for which he was awarded as 'Innovator Under 35' by MIT Technology Review. During his time in Colombia as a World Economic Forum's Global Shaper, he actively worked on inspiring youth and fostering peace and reconciliation with former FARC guerrilla members. Isaac has been invited to speak at MIT, Singularity University and the WEF Annual Meeting 2016 in Davos. He is a graduate of Singularity University Global Solutions Program and holds a master’s degree in telecommunications engineering.
Mauricio Teran — Co-Founder, VP of Marketing
Born in Quito, Ecuador, Mauricio started his career with a focus on bottom-of-the-pyramid markets, thinking that was the best path to have impact at scale in Latin America. Working with a microfinance institution, he helped open access to credit to the country’s poorest communities. Over the past fifteen years he has co-founded a medical device business, supported the nation’s nascent startup ecosystem, and led innovation initiatives with some of Ecuador’s largest companies. By refocusing on how emerging technologies might help address global problems, he became the first in his country to be part of Singularity University's flagship program (GSP) and won Ecuador's Global Impact Competition in 2015. He immigrated to the US with his wife Carla and one-year-old son Nico, who’ve been an important part of his journey to build Emerge.
Jamie Hamilton — Chief Technology Officer
Jamie has spent the last twenty-five years bringing new consumer electronics and medical systems to market. As the first Emerge employee, he has brought his ultrasound expertise to Emerge's vision for more meaningful virtual connection through touch. He has led teams in GE Healthcare, General Dynamics (James Webb Space Telescope), Zonare-Mindray, and Sonic Energy, and later co-founded Epsilon Imaging. An author of numerous journal publications and an inventor on ten patents, he holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of Michigan and a B.S. from the University of Rochester.
Virginia Venuto — Head of Finance
Virginia is passionate about technologies that empower equity and inclusion and has spent her career employing data-driven strategies to help entrepreneurs scale their businesses. She's also founded two social-impact ventures focused on facilitating human connection and charitable giving, where she built partnerships and raised funding from institutions such as Coca-Cola. Graduating with her bachelor's amidst the 2008 financial crisis, she quickly became passionate about decentralized finance and started mining Bitcoin in 2014. While getting her MBA at USC Marshall School of Business, she wrote a children's book on visionary use cases for blockchain technology. Born in New England, Virginia grew up in the Pacific Northwest and currently lives in Los Angeles with her wife, Vivian, and Shih Tzu, Princess Peach.