2013 – 2021 · ARCHIVEAny surface, any TV,
into a big touchscreen.
Touchjet was a deep-tech AIoT company founded in Singapore in 2013 that turned its founder's doctoral research in computer vision into mass-produced consumer electronics. The Pond touch projector makes any wall or table an Android touchscreen tablet up to 80 inches; the WAVE TV touch module makes any television a smart touchscreen for a few hundred dollars. The mission: bring connectivity, content and collaboration to wherever people meet, work, learn and play together.
01 / CompanyCompany
People spend ever more time on personal touchscreens, yet large touchscreens remain expensive to make and maintain. Touchjet brought every small-screen app to the big screen at very low cost, so collaboration could happen naturally in offices, classrooms and living rooms.
Touchjet integrated patented computer-vision technology with touchscreen computing systems to create products that let groups interact by touch on big screens. The business model had three revenue streams: smart hardware and embedded accessories, partnerships with developers building collaborative applications, and a community of mobile users connected to Touchjet products.
The company was incorporated in Singapore in July 2013 by LI Jiang (Ph.D. in computer vision, Nanyang Technological University) and LIU Zhen (former Huawei R&D executive). It started on a Singapore government i.JAM grant and incubator seed funding, then raised from Ruvento, TNF, Yunqi and others for about USD 3 million by the end of 2015. The team spanned three sites: Singapore for operations and R&D, San Francisco for marketing and channels, Shenzhen for manufacturing and supply chain. Touchjet USA, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware in 2017.
The first product, Pond, raised over USD 900,000 on Indiegogo in 2014 and shipped in May 2015. The second, WAVE, hit its crowdfunding goal within 24 hours in August 2015 and reached Best Buy and Amazon in 2016. Products shipped to more than 30 countries, with the United States at roughly 80% of sales, and Pond won the 2016 Edison Gold Award. The founder handed day-to-day operations to the US team and stepped back from the business by 2021.
02 / ProductsProducts
Both core products rest on the same computer-vision touch technology. Pond brings its own projector and turns any surface into a touchscreen; WAVE brings no display and turns the TV you already own into one.
Touchjet Pond
Pond packs a DLP pico projector, an Android computer and an infrared touch system into a 276-gram device. Project onto a wall, table or floor and tap, drag and write with the infrared stylus as on a tablet; two styluses allow two people at once. Over Wi-Fi it downloads and runs any Android app, so films, games, whiteboarding, annotated presentations and video calls all happen on the big screen. Formerly named Touchpico, it raised USD 919,453 on Indiegogo in 2014, one of the most successful hardware campaigns of its year.
- 2016 Edison Gold Award
- 2015 CES Innovation Award
- TechCrunch's Favorite Things of 2015
- 2016 BIG Innovation Award
| Projection | TI DLP 0.3" WVGA 854×480 · 80 lumens (50 on battery) · 1000:1 contrast · 14–85" image |
|---|---|
| Touch | Infrared optical stylus tracking · 2 styluses included · in-house LPU chip, 90 ms touch latency (industry norm 120 ms) |
| Compute | Rockchip RK3066 dual-core Cortex-A9 1.6 GHz · Mali-400 · 1 GB RAM · 4 GB + 16 GB SD · Android 4.4 |
| Battery / body | 4,000 mAh, about 2 hours · 108.5 × 97.6 × 33 mm · 276 g (9.7 oz) |
| Ports | Micro-USB · Mini-HDMI (any HDMI source) · 3.5 mm audio · Wi-Fi · Bluetooth 4.0 Airmouse |
| Later version | New Pond / Pond Pro (2016): quad-core RK3128, 20–150" image, dual-band Wi-Fi, about 2.5 h battery, finger-touch laser kit |
Touchjet WAVE
WAVE is a slim boom that clamps to the top of a TV. A low-power infrared laser in the base fans a grid of light parallel to the screen; the LPU at the top of the boom detects where a finger or stylus breaks the grid and translates it into touch events Android understands. Any 20–65" flat-screen TV becomes a giant tablet over HDMI, with up to four touch points; the phone app doubles as remote, keyboard and trackpad, and a swipe throws a file onto the big screen. The August 2015 Indiegogo campaign hit its USD 100,000 goal in 24 hours, passed USD 200,000 in two days and closed at USD 700,524.
- Indiegogo goal in 24 h
- Best Buy · Amazon
- Skyworth / Coocaa WAVE Jr.
- CUE classroom partner
- Windows 10 integration
| Compatibility | 20–65" flat-screen TVs and monitors (HDMI 1.4) · 720p / 1080p at 50/60 Hz · 4K at 24/25/30 Hz |
|---|---|
| Touch | 808 nm infrared laser grid + LPU · up to 4 points · detects 6 mm objects · ±10 mm stylus accuracy on 65" · ≥100 reports/s · 32768×32768 resolution |
| Compute | 2.0 GHz quad-core Cortex-A9 · Mali-450 · 1 GB / 8 GB (Plus: 2 GB / 16 GB) · Android 4.4 + Touchjet UI · 4K H.264/H.265 decode |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n · Bluetooth 4.0 · 2 × USB 2.0 · Micro-SD · line-out audio · 5 V USB power, ≤12 W |
| Video conferencing | WAVE Plus adds a 720p 30 fps camera and dual noise-cancelling microphones, 1080p H.264 encode |
| In the box | TV mount · HDMI cable · USB power cable · infrared stylus · Airmouse (optional) · Touchjet App (iOS / Android: remote, screen sharing, file sharing) |
WAVE Jr. (Coocaa / Skyworth edition)
A pure touch module keeping only the laser grid and LPU, under 4 W, that mounts on Coocaa smart TVs and makes a native Android TV a touch TV. Partnership agreement with Skyworth's Coocaa signed October 2015; shipped in China in 2016.
WAVE Plus · meeting-room tablet
The enhanced meeting-room edition: 2 GB / 16 GB, 720p camera and dual microphones, PPT / Word / Excel / 3D playback and wireless screen sharing. Positioned against Microsoft Surface Hub and Seewo interactive panels: one WAVE fits any 40–75" TV, priced at RMB 3,999 in China.
WAVE + Lily · digital-pen edition
A precise pen-touch edition for enterprise and K-12 classrooms up to 65", paired with the Touchjet Present cloud service for content sharing and annotation as a unified collaboration hub; distributed by Stampede with Best Buy Geek Squad certified installation.
Touchjet App · Dashboard · SDK
The phone app (iOS / Android) serves as remote, keyboard, trackpad and screen-sharing tool; a smart dashboard on the TV acts as an information and smart-home hub; the Touchjet SDK supports developers building multiplayer games and collaboration apps (interactive whiteboard, annotated presentations, Math 24 and more).
Android 4.4 + Windows 10
Pre-loaded Android 4.4 KitKat with the Touchjet user interface, automatically adapting every native Android app; Windows 10 integration completed in 2016, alongside a partnership with Konica Minolta.
Stylus · Airmouse · laser kits
Active infrared stylus, Bluetooth 4.0 Airmouse (air mouse and remote in one), removable finger-touch laser kit for Pond, and a camera-and-microphone upgrade kit for WAVE.
03 / TechnologyCore Technology
LPU laser-adaptive touch: nothing is attached to the screen. An invisible infrared grid and one vision chip turn a flat surface of any size into a touchscreen. This is where Touchjet's cost advantage came from.
LPU · Light Position Unit
An in-house Light Position Unit chip and algorithm locate, in real time, where a finger or stylus breaks the grid. Touch latency of 90 ms, 25% better than the 120 ms industry norm, with no perceptible lag.
Infrared laser grid
A low-power 808 nm infrared laser fans a grid parallel to the screen, detecting objects 6 mm across at ≥100 reports per second with 32768×32768 touch resolution; on a 65" screen, ±10 mm with a stylus and ±15 mm with a finger.
Automatic app adaptation
Android 4.4 KitKat with the Touchjet interface runs every native Android app by touch on the big screen with no changes; the companion phone app handles remote control and screen sharing, and the SDK is open to collaboration-app and multiplayer-game developers.
| Option | Technology | Sizes | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Surface Hub | Perceptive Pixel touch display | 55" / 84" | US$8,999 / US$21,999 |
| Seewo interactive flat panel | Infrared-frame all-in-one panel | 65" / 75" / 84" | RMB 14,999 / 26,999 / 69,999 |
| Touchjet WAVE | LPU laser optical touch on an existing TV | 20–65" (one unit fits any size) | US$299 / RMB 3,999 |
04 / TimelineTimeline
From a Singapore incubator to US retail shelves: two crowdfunding campaigns, two products, a team across three sites.
- July Touchjet Pte. Ltd. incorporated in Singapore by LI Jiang and LIU Zhen; i.JAM grant and incubator seed funding.
- Touchpico, the precursor of Pond, started: projector, Android computer and touch in one device.
- Angel funding for Pond; Indiegogo campaign raises USD 919,453, one of the most successful hardware campaigns of the year.
- CES Showstopper Award.
- May Pond ships (US$599); CES Innovation Award.
- August First working WAVE prototype; Indiegogo campaign hits USD 100,000 in 24 hours, passes USD 200,000 in two days and closes at USD 700,524; manufacturing partnership with Seveco.
- October Partnership agreement with Skyworth / Coocaa.
- December Pond named one of TechCrunch's Favorite Things of 2015; A+ round opens with about USD 3 million raised to date.
- April Pond wins the Edison Gold Award (Communication & Collaboration); BIG Innovation Award.
- WAVE launches at Best Buy and Amazon; WAVE Jr. ships in China; CUE selects Touchjet as a classroom collaboration partner; new touch technology unveiled at ISTE and the SETDA forum.
- Pond Pro / New Pond, Windows 10 integration, partnership with Konica Minolta.
- Touchjet USA, Inc. incorporated in Delaware; Innovation Showcase winner at the Angel Capital Association Summit.
- WAVE + Lily digital-pen edition and the Touchjet Present cloud service launch; Stampede becomes primary distributor.
- September Finalist in the USD 5 million 43North startup competition; second ACA Innovation Showcase win.
- The founder hands day-to-day operations to the US team and steps back from the business.
05 / MarketMarket & Customers
Four settings, one technology: the living room at home, the meeting room at work, the hotel room and the classroom all lack an affordable big touchscreen.
Home
Bring the apps you love to the big screen; get kids off individual devices and playing together.
Business
Improve collaboration, up the wow on presentations, run Skype and other video calls on the big screen.
Hotels
Integrate with hotel apps, in-room dining and entertainment; cut the support cost of confusing remotes.
K-12 schools
The best tool for collaborative small-group learning: cheaper than an interactive whiteboard, more portable than a projector.
Pond USD 919,453 plus WAVE USD 700,524 from 8,000+ backers: two campaigns that proved the product concepts and brought media exposure.
United States as the core market (c. 80%); Best Buy, Amazon and Stampede distribution with Geek Squad certified installation; China through Skyworth / Coocaa.
- MIT · Capital One · HP · IBM · Swisscom · Century 21
- Long Beach USD, Bonham ISD and other US school districts
- CUE classroom collaboration partner
06 / TeamTeam
Product definition and engineering in Singapore and Shenzhen, marketing and channels in Silicon Valley: a cross-border team with complementary strengths in product development and business expansion.
Ph.D. in pattern recognition from Nanyang Technological University; 15 years of research and product experience in pattern recognition, machine vision and AI, including ASM semiconductor vision-inspection lines, HP Ireland inkjet automated vision inspection and runway FOD detection at Singapore Changi Airport. Led product definition, fundraising and the China business; moved to enterprise AI after 2021 and now advises on AI strategy.CV
Harbin Institute of Technology graduate with 15 years in electronics and hardware; formerly head of mobile technology at Huawei (China and New Zealand), taking the team into Europe. Led R&D and production of the whole Touchjet line, including Pond mass production and WAVE development.
MBA, UC Berkeley Haas. Founding President of BlueFocus Communication Group of America, building a USD 125 million media group in two years; SVP Worldwide Sales at Livescribe, taking sales from zero to USD 50 million in three years and opening US K-12 channels; founding GM of LeapFrog China.
Harbin Institute of Technology graduate; former GM of a 1,000-person Konka Group subsidiary, executive vice president of Huizhou Baixinjia Group and vice GM of Shenzhen Jingkai Electronics. Led China market development and sales channels, establishing product partnerships with TV manufacturers.
Co-founder and CEO of Mophie.
Cameron held senior consumer-electronics leadership roles for 15 years, most recently Senior Director of Sales, North America at Livescribe; Dmitriy designed and integrated software systems at Apple, IBM and several Silicon Valley start-ups.
07 / RecognitionRecognition & Press
From crowdfunding platforms to the Edison Awards: the recognition a Singapore-designed, Shenzhen-built consumer product earned in the US market.
- TechCrunchWAVE campaign coverage; Pond in Favorite Things of 2015
- Fast CompanyTouchjet WAVE Will Turn Your TV Into A Touchscreen
- New Atlas / GizmagIn-depth Pond review; WAVE launch coverage
- Tech Times · SlashGear · TechRadarWAVE and Pond coverage and reviews
- Uncrate · Gear Patrol · 9to5ToysProduct picks
- CBS MoneyWatch · Futurism · IT Pro · GeekDadPond reviews and features
- PRNewswireEdison Award, CUE partnership, Seveco manufacturing, ISTE launch, 43North finals