Ultraleap, the ‘Minority Report’ tech firm once considered the darling of the South West scene, has crashed into administration.
The university spinout raised more than £120 million from high-profile investors to build its haptic mid-air technologies based on Ultrasound.
However it has encountered difficulties in recent years and late last year was taken over by London music tech firm Roli – behind touch-sensitive music devices like the Seaboard and Roli Blocks – with founder Tom Carter joining the latter as CTO as well as its board.
Roli founder Roland Lamb wrote at the time that the deal was a “dream come true” – he had known Carter for a decade – but this year was reportedly ousted from Roli and the firm has now entered administration. Lamb has not posted on LinkedIn for 11 months.
He is now listed as the founder of Instrumental Intelligence, which is thought to be attempting to buy the assets of Roli. Customers of the firm have taken to social media to say they haven’t received refunds for faulty products – or even the products themselves.
Two licensed insolvency practitioners were appointed joint administrators of Roli on 20th October, according to Wired.
Carter founded his firm as Ultrahaptics in 2013 to develop hand-tracking and mid-air haptics technology. In 2019 it acquired US hand-tracking firm Leap Motion and rebranded as Ultraleap.
It has raised tens of millions of pounds from the likes of Chinese tech giant Tencent, private equity firm Mayfair Equity Partners and London-listed spinout investor IP Group.
Damian Webb and Joe Barry of RSM UK Restructuring Advisory LLP were appointed joint administrators of Ultraleap Ltd on 19th October 2026.
The administrators added in a statement: “Prior to the appointment, the company explored a number of funding and restructuring options.
“Unfortunately, a solvent solution could not be concluded within the available timeframe.
“The administrators’ immediate focus is on preserving the company’s assets and exploring opportunities to maximise realisations for creditors.”
Sky News reported in 2024 that Ultraleap was exploring a sale of its hand-tracking division – likened to scenes from Tom Cruise blockbuster Minority Report – and had informed staff of the need to slash jobs amid shifting priorities at tech giants including Facebook owner Meta and Snap. It holds more than 550 patents.