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iddris sandu

3 mins read

Iddris Sandu’s Web3 Startup Spatial Labs Raises $10 Million

Spatial Labs, a web3 infrastructure and hardware company, has raised $10 million in a seed round led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from Marcy Venture Partners.

The company, which was founded in 2021 by Iddris Sandu, aims to create products and shopping experiences using augmented reality. Sandu believes that the “metaverse” is not just a virtual space, but a way to add more context to the real world and make it more enjoyable.

Spatial Labs made a name for itself in the industry last year with the sale of clothes embedded with a microchip called LNQ. The chip provided consumers with the item’s provenance and ownership history, which was recorded on the blockchain. This technology allowed customers to have a better understanding of where their purchases came from, and gave them a greater sense of transparency and trust in the brands they were buying from.

The chip also enabled brands to create loyalty programs directly into their products. This allows companies to offer incentives and rewards to their customers for repeat business, without having to rely on email lists or other traditional marketing methods. This technology has the potential to revolutionize the way that companies interact with their customers, and could lead to more personalized and engaging shopping experiences.

With the fresh capital, Spatial Labs plans to continue scaling its blockchain-enabled technology and expand into other industries, such as media and entertainment. The company also plans to launch a device called Node, which will simplify the process of developing and deploying augmented reality experiences. The device will allow developers and creators to easily create AR experiences and make them accessible to a wider audience.

Sandu, who is currently 25 years old, is now one of the youngest Black men to successfully raise a double-digit seed round as a solo founder. However, he points out that because of enduring discrimination in the venture capital industry, the process of raising funding can be difficult for Black founders.

Despite these challenges, he is committed to using the funding to turn Spatial Labs into one of the fastest-growing unicorns in the industry.

by Tony O. Lawson

Interested in investing in Black founders? If so, please complete this brief form.

5 mins read

A Conversation with Tech Architect, Iddris Sandu

Iddris Sandu is a young visionary who landed an internship with Google at 13, received a Presidential scholar award at 14, worked on data analytics for Twitter at 15, and was hired by Instagram at 16.

At 17, he was working with Snapchat until he became a consultant at Uber, working on the software for self-driving cars, and at 20, he collaborated with Nipsey Hussle to create the world’s first smart store.

We reached out to find out more about his thoughts and beliefs about how to change the world through innovation and “great design”.

What is the digital revolution and what does it mean to you?

The digital revolution is an ongoing evolutionary cycle of technology. I guess many could say that the term was coined in the early 80s but we’re now starting to see the progressiveness of the term on a larger scale. For me, it’s about automation. Digital technology is now able to replace and outsmart the very creators of the technology.

How important is it that we shift from high utilization rates to high production rates of tech platforms?

We need to do so in order to create a more diverse infrastructural playing field. I think it’s a common theme in tech for people to say let’s decentralize technology, but that’s not the answer because a system can be decentralized but still not diverse and accessible.

In order to generate the best stories we must be able to have a platform and best tell the narrative.  Our youth must not just be able to establish grounds in rented spaces, but also be able to own their own spaces.

You’ve worked on projects with celebs and major corporations. What attracts you to a particular project?

For me it always cuts down to purpose. I think a lot of people focus on projects with the intent of how their ego can be fueled.
I just want to point out that I’m not pointing fingers at anyone, but as for me, I’m on a different mission and purpose.

I also just feel like the world already has too much of that going on. This vision I’ve been tasked with is bigger than a single individual and thus, all projects I’m attracted to are ones that have a sense of serving and being of service to societies, communities, and humanity in general.

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your life?

I would credit the philosophies of Dieter Rams stating that less is more, Alan Watts on the simplicity of life, and even Wabi-Sabi, a Japanese way of life which focuses on three basic philosophies; 1)That things are never finished things,
2)Things are never perfect and 3) Nothing ever lasts.

If you could have a giant billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say and why?

I think it would say “one race, the human race”. But I don’t know if that’s politically correct. Anyways, it would say that.

What advice do you have for aspiring tech designers?

Indulge in more solution-based thinking over problem based thinking. The general world doesn’t necessarily thrive on another t-shirt, Instagram post, or social media app. The world needs healing. The world needs solutions to ever-evolving man-generated problems. We need the best thinkers working on providing accessibility to everyone rather than for aspirational gain.

Cars should be $30,000 and look like Lamborghinis. All houses should have concise and great affordance all throughout them and should be classless. Our resources should be distributed to as many people as we can service rather than simply accumulating for ourselves.

by Tony O. Lawson

Interested in investing in Black founders? If so, please complete this brief form.