Leap Motion loses VP of design as company moves offices to cut costs

Leap Motion CEO Michael
Buckwald
Getty/Steve
Jennings

In 2012, Leap Motion was one of the hottest startups in Silicon
Valley, partially propelled on the strength of a viral
video that promised that its technology could replace
the mouse or the trackpad.

Leap Motion makes a system comprised of both hardware and
software that uses sensors to track hand movements and enables
users to control computers with gestures.

But now, one executive at Leap Motion who has made his own viral
videos about the future of technology has announced that he is
resigning from the company. Keiichi Matsuda, formerly the VP of
design at Leap Motion, didn’t reply to Twitter DMs or a LinkedIn
message requesting additional comment on his departure.

Matsuda is most well-known for a video called HYPER-REALITY, which
depicts a dystopian version of what daily life could look like if
augmented reality technology indulges its worst impulses.

“Matsuda led the company’s design research studio in London,
delivering fundamental research to help create new standards for
interaction design and user experience,” Leap Motion said in a
press release about his departure.

Leap Motion has focused more in recent years on its augmented
reality headset design, called North Star, which uses Leap
Motion’s hand-tracking technology and displays advanced computer
graphics inside the headset’s lenses, competing with Magic Leap
One and Microsoft Hololens. 

Leap Motion’s previous product was a controller that plugged into
a Mac or PC and allowed users to control software or other
experiences with their hands with no other controllers or
trackers. But sales of Leap Motion’s controller were
underwhelming and never good enough to sustain a company,
multiple former employees told Business Insider. 

Leap
Motion’s North Star headset

Leap
Motion

His announcement comes as Leap Motion has moved out of its San
Francisco office in a bid to cut costs, multiple people familiar
with the matter told Business Insider.

Leap Motion most recently raised a $50 million Series C round
from JP Morgan Asset Management last July, bringing the company’s
total funds raised to $94 million, according to PitchBook
data. 

A Leap Motion representative sent Business Insider a link to the
company’s
press release on Matsuda’s departure. 

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