Perth startup Humm is setting its course for the next year after participating in Berkeley’s eminent Skydeck accelerator program.
Perth startup Humm is setting its course for the next year after participating in Berkeley’s eminent Skydeck accelerator program.
The University of California Berkeley campus has a rich academic history, with more than 60 Nobel laureates having studied there, as well as the cofounders of some of the world’s biggest technology companies.
Currently, the campus is hosting the best of the next generation of innovators, who have been fashioning their ideas into businesses through the university’s Skydeck accelerator program.
Since June, Skydeck has been home to a group from Perth-based startup Humm, a business developing wearable tech for brain stimulation – one of about two dozen hopefuls in the accelerator.
Humm’s headband, Edge, is based on medical research into the impact of electrical signals on the front of the brain, and their possible use in improved learning and concentration.
Chief executive Iain McIntyre said while there had been experimentation on the concept for years, the technology was now getting to the point where it could be commercially successful.
“The science moves slowly, technology moves slowly, but even slower than any of those things is human behaviour,” Mr McIntyre told Business News.
The example he cited was watchmaker Fitbit, where achieving sufficient computing power for a wearable device was a big leap, yet generating widespread consumer interest was also a challenge.
“This is like the mobile phone,” Mr McIntyre said.
“The mobile phone brought us that much closer to technology, you’re always connected.
“Your brain is essentially what you’re trying to connect, (so) the next step from (being) in my hands, is in my head.”
Humm has already had some buyer interest after opening advanced registrations for Edge in November, about a year ahead of the product’s planned launch.
The team also has received some serious investor backing, including from the Perth Angels program and through Spacecubed’s Muru-D accelerator.
About $US300,000 has been secured from raisings and grants so far.
Mr McIntyre said the past few months had been a crucial period for Humm.
That has included releasing the initial design for the product, in collaboration with industrial design firm level, a consultant to HTC and Fitbit.
There was also a major change in direction.
“(Two months ago) we realised that our technology was cool but we were in the wrong market,” Mr McIntyre said.
Humm had focused on creating a product for e-sports and gamers, which Mr McIntyre said was generally considered an early adopter of technology.
Despite significant cash flowing into e-sports, Humm found the market for performance enhancement was not big, so the team turned to professionals, such as technology industry employees in nearby Silicon Valley.
“(Evolving direction is) a natural learning process and a lot of people here are very used to it, but it doesn’t make it any easier, and you have to change all your thinking,” Mr McIntyre said.
“It was very stressful, very difficult to make that decision.
“But we made it and everything has been going a lot better since.”
The next step will be closing off another round of funding, followed by product testing and manufacturing decisions.
Those choices will be motivated by the words of a mentor in the Skydeck program, who emphasised the Silicon Valley culture of thinking big.
“I’d rather you fail doing the most ambitious thing than succeed doing something mediocre,” he said.
