Afference
Afference is a Neural / EMG & Haptics company founded in 2022 and based in Boulder, United States. It has raised $18.4M in total funding, most recently a Series B in 2025.
Afference, founded in 2022 by Jacob Segil and Dustin Tyler, develops neural haptics that recreate the sense of touch for AR, VR, and XR. Its wearable, marketed around an Afference Ring / 'Phantom' reference design, uses self-adjusting rings that deliver precise electrical impulses to peripheral nerves, producing tactile sensations without any actuator on the fingertip or a glove covering the skin. The company won a CES 2024 Best of Innovation Award and has raised funding from investors including Konvoy, Samsung Next, and Hannah Grey VC, closing a roughly $15.35M Series B in December 2025. Because it stimulates peripheral nerves rather than the brain, it is a neural-haptics company rather than a brain-computer interface.
A leading attempt to make digital touch feel real through peripheral-nerve stimulation, a key missing input channel for AI glasses and spatial computing.
afference.io ↗·Neural / EMG & Haptics·
United States·private 
