As a digital architect, he develops and supervises digital spaces. He was introduced to programming at 10 and started working for Google at 13. His professional experience includes working with American celebrities like Nipsey Hussle and Kanye West.
Iddris Sandu (photo) is a Ghanaian-born digital architect living in the U.S. He is the founder and CEO of Spatial Labs, a California-based tech infrastructure company that develops Web3 hardware and software.
On its website, Spatial Labs (founded in 2020) presents itself as "a technology infrastructure company that is powering the next generation of Augmented Reality, Blockchain, Omni-channel, and Immersive Experiences - collectively known as the Metaverse." Its LNQ One chip allows brands to integrate loyalty benefits, authentication and tracking services into their products.
On January 26, 2023, it announced the closing of a US$10 million seed round led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from Marcy Venture Partners, a VC firm co-founded by U.S. rapper Jay-Z.
"The metaverse to us is not a virtual space that people go to spend time in. It’s a world in which we can add more context to your real world and make your real world more enjoyable. [...] We’re going to be responsible for catalyzing a completely new generation to be more conscious of their environment; more conscious of how they spend and how they buy," Iddris Sandu told Techcrunch at the time.
The tech enthusiast was introduced to programming at 10. At 11, a Google designer who spotted him at a library offered him an internship position with the Mountainview company. Two years later, he signed his first professional contract with the giant, working on several projects such as Google Plus, a defunct social network. At 15, he designed an app that allowed Narbonne High School (his high school)'s students to easily find their classrooms. For that innovation, former U.S. President Barack Obama awarded him a commendation certificate.
After high school, he declined an MIT offer and instead focused on internships to gain more experience. Between 2014 and 2015, he interned at Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon. In 2016, he was contracted as a consultant for Snap Inc. In January 2017, he joined Uber where he created the Autonomous Collision Detection Interface, a driver activity recognition system.
In 2018, he founded ethosDNA and Hakt Labs, respectively design and software development companies.
As a cultural programmer, he worked with U.S. rapper Nipsey Hussle to create The Marathon Clothing, a smart clothing store where he served as the chief technology officer between 2017 and 2018. He also worked as a design and tech consultant for Kanye West's Yeezy LLC. In August 2019, he also worked as an independent contractor for Beautycon Media. Months earlier, he was a mixed reality specialist for Innocean USA.
He has built a tech literacy school in Ghana and implemented several educational programs in California. From 2020 to 2022, he was an internal/external partner for Facebook (now Meta). He has received several awards, including a US$100,000 scholarship from the Peter Thiel foundation.
Melchior Koba
