In March of 2011, Gilman Louie and Ernestine Fu were visiting universities in southern California. UCLA electrical engineering professor Frank Chang was developing a millimeter-wave radio technology and presented his research to them.
The technology became the basis for a company we funded, Keyssa. Keyssa provides fast, secure, and inexpensive data transfer with contactless connectivity.
Phones have become an extension of ourselves, but as such, they are often exposed to harsh elements such as water and dust, and break easily. Products with metal connector ports are the most susceptible to damage.
In addition, designers today must model around unattractive traditional ports, which limit creativity and design. Keyssa’s contactless connectivity technology enables freedom from mechanical connections, from a design and aesthetics perspective. It allows designers to design without being tethered to traditional ports. For example, you can simply place a tablet into a keyboard’s hinge cradle to connect two devices. All edges of any device can be completely connector free.
People are consuming and sharing more and more data through their devices everyday. But doing so efficiently, securely, and cost-effectively is a challenge. From a data perspective, Keyssa’s contactless connectivity technology provides 6Gbps and higher bandwidth. It allows consumers to share content with zero latency, providing phones and tablets the speed they need.
From a security perspective, Keyssa allows consumers to break free from their dependency on third party clouds, so that they are in control of what and when they share content. The technology’s power consumption is also orders of magnitude lower than other solutions. It’s compatible with current and next generation connectivity standards.
Keyssa has raised capital from Alsop Louie Partners, Intel, Samsung, Dolby, among others. Tony Fadell, one of the fathers of the iPod and founder of Nest Labs, is chairman of the board. Jim Whims also sits on the board with Nantworks founder Patrick Soon-Shiong and Beceem Communications co-founder Surendra Mandava. Gilman Louie also advises the company, along with Dr. Frank Chang of UCLA, Mark Lemmo of InterDigital Inc., and David Lee, who created HDMI.
As of 2014, Keyssa has filed over 100 patents for its technology. We are excited for a world where consumers truly nest their phones for fast, instantaneous data and media transfer – powered by Keyssa.
