Valence Vibrations 🔊

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

• Brain Power

• Cryano.ai

• Amazon Halo

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 🧠