setting the scene
- it’s peak pandemic and the lack of social interaction is driving you crazy
- in an attempt to spice things up, you start dabbling with “Zoom dates” 🥂
- your first date goes surprisingly well, and you message them to schedule the next meeting 💬
- days go by, and no response 🥴
- where did things go wrong? you thought there was a real connection 💘
- this week’s company provides tools to help better understand the emotions of others (and get a better read on that first date)
in a sentence
Valence Vibrations provides communication tools that interpret emotions in real-time conversation
-
communication tools: for both in-person and virtual environments
- wearable tech: translates emotions into vibrations ⌚️
- Zoom plugin: delivers emotional subtitles 🖥
- real time: translations are made instantly using voice data ⏱
bulleted version: get your mask and cape ready, Valence Vibrations’ emotional translation tools give you the telepathic power to read the room 🦸
the basics
- industry: SaaS, neurotech, sensory augmentation
- headquarters: Los Angeles, CA 🎥
- year founded: 2021
- company size: < 10 employees 🧳
- investment stage: pre-seed
due diligence
what we like
- increasing neurodiversity: we’re | 🟡 Happy | that the tool promotes empathy and efficiency in communication between all people, from those with emotional perception disorders to cultural differences
-
👨🏽💻 humanizing the online world: as more of our professional and personal lives have moved remotely, we often miss the physical cues from in-person communication
- Valence’s products will improve work meetings, therapy sessions, and job interviews
- customer touch points: integrated with Zoom and Apple, with many opportunities to expand for both B2B and B2C customers
potential risks
- multiple products: while it’s exciting that Valence is double-focusing on the online and in-person worlds, these products are used differently and may rely on different customers
- 🤖 over-reliance: if we become dependent on technology to read emotions, could we lose trust in our own intuition?
- 👂 pensive on privacy: it may take some convincing to get people comfortable with a product that listens to and interprets their conversations
founder profiles
- Chloe Duckworth (CEO, co-founder @ Health Hearted, BrainMind, student @ USC)
- Shannon Brownlee (CTO, prev. AI 2 Microsoft, Lucid Circuit, student @ USC)
comps
why Valence Vibrations: emotional translation tools have the opportunity to increase EQ for all users; Valence Vibrations’ focus on empathy opens up many (neural) pathways for expansion 🧠