Startup Club: PointGrab

Over the past few decades, a growing number of small businesses involved in various industries have popped up around the world meeting the needs of an ever-growing, ever-changing market.

Jewish businessmen and innovators continue to excel throughout these industries, displaying their prowess as creative, forward-thinking entrepreneurs, and tapping into continuously developing markets with 'startup' companies.

In a bid to recognize these decorated entrepreneurs for their ongoing contributions and advancements to these fields, Shalom Life is pleased to present: Startup Club, highlighting the best and the brightest of Jewish entrepreneurs who continue to provide our community with new, influential and innovative ideas that will forever change the way we interact with the world, and with one another.

Follow our lead and we’ll follow yours – send us tips or suggestions via email, comment below or tweet us @ShalomLife, in our mission to celebrate the most visionary of Jewish entrepreneurs.

Check out last week's inductee into the Club here.

Business: PointGrab

Based Out Of: Hod HaSharon, Israel

Entrepreneurs: Haim Perski, Amir Kaplan

Industry: Gesture Recognition Software

Well, we all knew that it would come to this.

Once upon a time, wireless devices were looked at as futuristic technology, enabling us to use remote controls to watch our television sets, or enjoy Playstation from 150 feet away from your system, that is if your living room was large enough. Then, over the past decade, and thanks to the infinite capabilities of the hightech age, ways that revolutionize how we engage with our technical devices continue to pour onto the market, particularly from Silicon Wadi, a.k.a. Tel Aviv and its surrounding area, the cultural and technological capital of Startup Nation.

The latest time-saver and most advanced convenience package comes via PointGrab.

No longer do we have to press buttons, or touch screens; that stuff is so 2009. With PointGrab, not so dissimilar to another Israeli-based device, OrCam, all you have to do is point.

PointGrab's progressive gesture recognition software has been around since 2010, and allows consumers to interact with their devices in immersive ways that have never before been possible, completely obliterating the need for many devices that still exist within the physical realm. With the movement of your fingers and hands, you can control your home appliances, gadgets, tablets, television sets, smartphones, cameras, and more, without even having to touch them.

Convenience, at beyond your fingertips.

PointGrab's hybrid action recognition technology has already been winning them accolades, garnering the Frost & Sullivan European Technology Innovation Award for its achievements in "gesture recognition for consumer electronics" in 2013.

"PointGrab deserves this honor because they have taken the leading role with a gesture experience that is reliable and, in comparison to its competitors, is superior in terms of the crucial factors for gesture control success,” said Archana Srinivasan, the senior research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan.

CEO Haim Perski, co-founder of the company, is ambitious, with several aspirations to take PointGrab into the mainstream, and completely alter every technological device that currently exists. If it were up to Perski, it seems, you'd be able to point to a virtual keyboard when you compose your tweets, rather than having to type them.

PointGrab will "continue to create innovative ways to make gesture a naturally intuitive interface for the masses," he said at the conference. Samsung, for example, already uses their tech in its smart TV's.

The company “has been working hard to keep consumer costs down," says Director of Marketing Avital Rabani. "We feel this experience should be available for the masses, not just the high-end market.”

PointGrab doesn't sell directly to consumers, but to manufacturers. Its software was first integrated by Lenovo, Acer, and Fujitso; now, after Samsung, as well as Chinese electronics firms TLC and Skyworth, over 20 million devices worldwide are equipped with the remarkable gesture capabilities thanks to PointGrab.

“The beauty of a software solution is that you don’t have to change the hardware in an existing device,” said Rabani. “That’s why many manufacturers prefer it.”

PointGrab has also unveiled new developments of its revolutionary technology at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, via AirTouch, for consumer electronic devices, PointSwitch, which uses gesture recognition to adjust air conditioning, home lighting, and home appliances, and CamMe, a gesture based camera app dedicated to creating the best selfies. Somebody should have told Ellen DeGeneres before the Oscars.

CamMe has already won the most Innovative Mobile App at the Global Mobile Awards 2014.

As selfies are the next big thing, popping up from Snapchat to Instagram to Facebook, CamMe is poised to make big changes in how professional they look in the year 2014.

What's most fascinating about PointGrab is its magical interface, allowing you to take fully advantage of it, whether it's pointing at a light switch in a dark room, or pointing at your heater when you're feeling cold.

Founded in 2008 by Perski and Amir Kaplan, the company has always been privately owned, and currently has a full-fledged staff of 60 employees, 50 of which are located at its Israeli headquarters in Hod HaSharon.

“This new experience revolutionizes the way people will naturally interact with consumer electronic devices as well as home appliances,” says Perski. “We are proud to unveil the next generation solutions in gesture recognition and work together with our partners to make it available on mass market devices for consumers around the world.”