Fuse Capital's Patel backs digital ring maker Fin Robotics

Keyur Patel, managing partner of US-based Fuse Capital Inc, has made an undisclosed investment in wearable device maker Fin Robotics Inc.

Kerala- and California- based Fin Robotics will use the money raised for Neyya, its Bluetooth ring that controls other devices and apps using gesture control technology, The Economic Times reported today.

Executives at Fin Robotics did not respond to a Techcircle.in questionnaire till the time of writing this news report.

Fin Robotics was founded in 2014 by Rohildev N, who had earlier co-founded robotics startup RHLVision. Fin Robotics had raised $200,000 through the crowd-funding route in its earlier round.

Patel, who has headed firms such as Inktomi and Maxtor, has put together a team in Silicon Valley and Japan to assist the startup with design, manufacturing and marketing, the news report suggested.

Neyya is a configurable digital ring that allows portions of the user's fingers to act like Hot Keys. With Neyya, users can control their media, take selfies and respond to important calls / messages discreetly, the company claims.

Apple, which already sells its Apple Watch, had recently filed a patent for a smart ring. However, it's unclear if Apple would develop the smart ring into a standalone wearable tech product.

GOQii (a fitness focused startup launched by Indiagames' founder and its former CEO Vishal Gondal) is the most prominent startup in the Indian wearables space. It also offers a fitness tracker band and mates it with a personalised virtual trainer on a subscription payment model.

Fuse Capital, formerly known as Velocity Interactive Group, is a media-focused venture capital firm with approximately $1.5 billion assets under management globally. In India, it has investments in Fuse+Media, NDTV Network and India TV.