SXSW Pitch Finalist: Looxid Labs
The Forrest Four-Cast: February 13, 2020
Imagine VR/AR/MR systems that truly understand how users think and feel.
One of the 50 finalists for SXSW Pitch 2020, Looxid Labs is working on that, serving VR companies in gaming, healthcare, commerce, and education.
Based in Seoul, South Korea, Looxid Labs aims to integrate biometrics into the VR/AR/MR platform. Its AI system is designed to decode the users’ cognitive and emotional states using their biosignals. To integrate a biometric system into HMD platforms, they have developed the most VR compatible brain-sensing technology, Looxid Link.
Brian Yongwook Chae, CEO of Looxid Labs, will pitch at SXSW in the category of Augmented & Virtual Reality (3:30 to 4:30 pm Saturday, March 14) before a live audience and a panel of expert judges.
Winners in each of the 10 categories will be announced at the Pitch Awards Ceremony, at 6:30 pm Sunday, March 15. SXSW attendees are also invited to Meet the Finalists from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Monday, March 16. All SXSW Pitch events take place at the Hilton Austin Downtown.
Chae talks about the why his smile is his superpower, the promise of an open-source smart home, how to know when it’s time to start a business.
What’s your top goal for Looxid Labs in 2020?
We’re aiming to build a biometric analytics platform as a service beyond simply integrating biometrics into a VR/AR/MR platform.
With the exception of Looxid Labs, what tech trend is your team most excited about?
Our team was very much excited by the news that Apple, Google, and Amazon are teaming up to develop an open-source smart home standard. We’re expecting that any smart home device we buy will work with any smartphone or AI assistant we’re using — Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, or other platforms.
Which living person do you most admire and why?
The living person I admire the most is my mom. She is one of the most diligent and kind individuals that I know, and she has never let me stop getting started something new, even if it turned out not to be beneficial for my life.
Which talent would you most like to have?
I’d like to have a sort of persuasion skill. From my experience as an entrepreneur, I’ve learned that raising investment, forging business partnerships, making sales, and even managing employees is all about being able to convince people of my point of view in terms of investing their time, money, or both.
What’s your actual super power?
I would say smiling is an innate part of being human, and my smile is my superpower. No matter how a lot of traits such as decisiveness and enthusiasm are needed to run a business, my genuine smile has a hidden power that makes me look more approachable, trustworthy, and pleasant. My smile can be the help of communicating effectively even when managing emergent conflicts in business relationships.
What motto or quote do you live by?
Always try to be cool, always be positive, and always try new things!
What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten — or given?
When I took an entrepreneurship course at graduate school, I have received the best advice from a successful Korean entrepreneur. He said: “Here are three basic questions what you need to ask before starting a new venture: i) do you genuinely love what you will do?; ii) are you good at what you will do?; iii) will your business provide any social value or have any positive influence on humanity?” When I was able to say “yes” to all the questions, I started my own business.
Tell us about something you love.
I love to travel to a new place and take pictures. I have been using the Canon EOS 6D Mark II.
What do you do when you are low on energy?
Cooking is one of my all-time favorite hobbies. In order to get my energy back, I usually make several Korean dishes and eat the food I cook.
Tell us your favorite thing about being in Seoul.
Cafes, pubs, spas, shopping centers, and fast food chains are open 24/7. If you’re looking for venues for drinking, eating, and all kinds of play any hour of any night, Seoul is the right place to visit.
Tell us about a memorable celebrity encounter.
Recently, I came across Korean actor Song Kang Ho, one of the “Parasite” stars when I got on a plane.
If you were offered the opportunity to colonize Mars (but with no guarantee that you would ever return to Earth), would you go? Why or why not?
I would go to Mars because I’m curious to see how society develops.
Look for more interviews with other finalists in this space between now and the start of SXSW Pitch on Saturday, March 14. Visit this page to see all previous interviews in this series as well as a list of all finalists.
If you are an entrepreneur, check out the SXSW 2020 Startups Track, which runs March 13–17. This track brings together founders and funders and showcases exciting new companies, products, services, and business models across different verticals and industries.
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
