A minimalistic phone case with maximum protection

By Ane Mestvedthagen

Getting a new phone is always exciting. But the excitement quickly fades when you have to put a cheap plastic cover on it. The founders behind Arc Ventures – Moritz Angermann, Niclas Bertelsen, and Tom C. Theuer –  wanted to preserve that new phone feeling without compromising its protection. This is how Arc Pulse was born, a case that covers as little of the phone as possible while offering maximum protection.

Phone cases are just the beginning. From accessories to consumer electronics, Arc wants to change the way we think about the job of all of the technology that we use in our everyday lives. Following the launch of Arc Pulse, Arc has just opened a seed funding round for their undisclosed upcoming product – an ergonomic keyboard with a focus on health and efficiency. 

What is the most important thing for you when you’re making new products?

“That whatever a user is expecting from a product is satisfied and surpassed. It really depends on the job a product is meant to fulfill. Sometimes we encourage people to give some thought to this goal. Let’s take a phone case, for example. When people first think about what the job of a phone case is, they say that it is to protect the phone. But you could wrap your phone in bubble wrap and it would also protect your phone. That’s just not very practical, but it’s very functional. So, when we think a little bit more about the job of the phone case, we eventually reach the conclusion that it is to protect our phone, but also to preserve that new phone experience.” 

Why did you start with phone cases?

“In the beginning we had the idea about Arc Pulse, but also about a lot of other products. So, we thought in pragmatic terms to choose the least complex product, which was actually much more complex than we imagined.”

What makes your phone case different from other cases?

““ That involves an attachment mechanism that we have developed. The two parts of the case are not slid onto the phone from behind like any other phone case, but from the side. The case slides onto the phone and is held in place purely by friction and pressure. This also has a number of advantages from a protective angle. We have metal on the front of the phone that can genuinely prevent direct impact on the screen. With this attachment mechanism, we have not only bypassed the protection problem, but we are also able to make the phone case in an absolutely minimal way, so that the design of the phone remains intact.

The case is constructed of two different layers. On the outside is a metal shell designed to distribute any shocks. Inside, we use a softer, fully recyclable material that is designed to absorb shock. It’s a fully circular recyclable material. By compressing this material, we can reduce the shock that is delivered to the phone and achieve an extremely good level of protection.” 

What’s going to be the next product from Arc?

“Currently, computers are the second biggest thing in our lives. Our point of interaction with them, the tool that just about everyone uses now, is the keyboard. Keyboards have not really seen a redesign since the 1920s, if not before. These tools are no longer adequate for the kind of work we do. We see this, for example, in the number of specialized tools that people have on their desks and which they are constantly switching between. But we also see this in the health problems that these products have caused. About 70 percent of our generation are at risk for CANS -complaints in the arms, neck, and shoulder. It already accounts for 15 percent of all work-related injuries. We are seeing huge problems where the tools we use are destroying our health. This should not be the case with a product that is so essential in our everyday work. That’s why we think this is the next sector that really needs to be reshaped.” 

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What is your long-term goal?

“Ultimately, we hope to create an environment that establishes the interaction point with all hardware from the perspective of a user. Where the whole hardware system is geared towards them and not the other way around, where the user has to adapt to these technologies. Our long-term goal is to be able to create something like that, a human-centered electronics company.”

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