TacnIQ.ai raises US$1.5 million from In Group Holdings to scale tactile AI

Part of a US$3 million pre-seed round, the funding will accelerate the physical AI start-up's tactile foundation model, engineering team and commercial deployments across five key industries

SINGAPORE, Sept. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- TacnIQ.ai, a physical AI startup building technology that enables machines and robots to interpret touch, has secured US$1.5 million from lead investor In Group Holdings as part of a US$3 million pre-seed round. The funding will support the development of TacnIQ.ai's  tactile AI foundation models, expansion of its engineering team, and scaling of commercial deployments.

The TacnIQ.ai platform enables machines to interpret signals generated through physical contact so they can understand and respond more reliably to real-world interactions. TacnIQ.ai has deployed a scalable, commercially validated and field-tested model with paying customers across five key industries: logistics, construction, e-commerce, hospitality, and healthcare. These deployments, which gather signals through sensor-based data collection nodes, deliver real-world value by improving workplace safety and ergonomics, while giving TacnIQ.ai the raw sensor data it needs to build a robust, reliable, and commercially ready foundation model.

"Our mission is to build AI models that deliver real-world impact today and transform how engineers design and develop hardware," said Aashish Mehta, Co-founder and CEO of TacnIQ.ai. "We are grateful to In Group Holdings for backing that mission. Securing this investment is an important milestone and will enable us to hire talented engineers, build advanced tactile models, and to fully develop the technology into practical, scalable industry applications."

To date, TacnIQ.ai has built one of the world's largest tactile datasets with more than 5,000 hours of interactions collected from both controlled experiments and commercial deployments. The company is developing additional sensor nodes to capture a wide range of physical signals, which will broaden the multimodal data available to train its models.

While many tactile AI systems are trained on laboratory data or built for specific applications, TacnIQ.ai uses its proprietary dataset to train its model across different industries, tasks and operating conditions. This enables its model to generalize across industries and physical tasks, perform more reliably in complex environments, and reduce the need for application-specific training.

Liu Song, CEO of In Group Holdings, said: "Physical AI is emerging as one of the next major frontiers in artificial intelligence. TacnIQ.ai is building a critical intelligence layer for the physical world, underpinned by proprietary tactile data and real-world commercial deployments. We believe this combination of data, technology and practical applications strongly differentiates the company, and we are excited to lead this funding round and support the team as it scales."

TacnIQ.ai is working with Synaptics to close the gap between research and commercially ready tactile applications. Commenting on the investment, Mahesh Srinivasan, Vice President & GM, Touch & Display at Synaptics, said: "We are delighted to partner with the TacnIQ.ai team in unlocking the potential of touch-based AI. For physical AI to move beyond the lab, systems must be able to interpret complex physical signals reliably and in real time. TacnIQ.ai is tackling that challenge by turning tactile intelligence into robust, commercially ready hardware."

TacnIQ.ai is hiring across AI, software engineering and business development. Interested candidates can explore opportunities to help build the foundation model for physical interaction at https://www.tacniq.ai/careers#open-positions.

About TacnIQ.ai

TacnIQ.ai is a physical AI startup building foundational sensor models for physical interaction, starting with tactile. Backy, its tactile wearable data node, is deployed across logistics, construction, e-commerce, hospitality, and healthcare environments, delivering real-world impact while serving as the company's testing ground for a robust, reliable tactile model. Additional data nodes are in development to capture physics primitives and support generalization across applications. TacnIQ.ai's mission is to bridge AI and the physical world by building the foundation model for physical interaction. For more information, visit https://www.tacniq.ai/.

About In Group Holdings

In Group Holdings is a Singapore-based investment firm focused on backing high-growth companies across artificial intelligence, deep technology, healthcare, climate technology, semiconductors, robotics, quantum technologies, and other frontier sectors. The firm partners with visionary founders to accelerate commercialization, scale globally, and create long-term value through strategic capital, active governance, and access to its extensive network of industry partners, customers, and co-investors. For more information, visit https://ingroupholdings.com/

SOURCE TacnIQ.ai