Audioscenic, a Southampton company that’s changing the way we experience audio, raised £1.05 million from Foresight Group, Williams Advanced Engineering, and its existing investor IP Group. Basically, the UK startup uses small arrays of speakers and advanced head tracking technologies to create immersive 3D Sound systems, meaning that headphones or speakers located all around a room are no longer required.
Commenting on the investment, Chris Wiles, Senior Investment Manager at Foresight, said: “It has been a delight working with the Audioscenic team and we are extremely excited to see how their innovative technology will unlock the full potential of 3D audio content in loudspeaker applications“
How will the funding be used?
The company intends to use the funding to hire additional technical and commercial staff to develop and expand its offering as well as launching its technology with select customers.
David Monteith, Audioscenic CEO said: “Audioscenic is changing the way we experience audio and we are delighted that Foresight Williams is now supporting us on this mission and that IP Group is continuing its excellent support. We have developed world-leading 3D audio technology that we have already started applying to consumer applications; this funding will help us build the team further and drive the adoption of our technology faster.”
Generally, 3D sound formats are increasingly being adopted by content providers. But, replicating the exact sound experience in consumer hardware other than bulky headphones has so far proven challenging. And this is where Audioscenic’s adaptive technology comes into play.
Co-Founder and Audioscenic CTO Marcos Simón say, “With these funds we aim to grow our team further, increasing our expertise in adaptive audio and computer vision and making the adoption of our technology a reality. The years to come are exciting, and this investment is making it possible, so we are very thankful to Foresight Williams and to IP Group for believing in our proposition.”
Revolutionises the way we experience audio
The UK company was spun out of the Institute of Sound and Vibrational Research (ISVR) at the University of Southampton in 2017. The company’s technology was co-developed by Dr. Marcos Simón (Chief Technology Officer) under the supervision of Chief Scientific Officer, Prof. Filippo Fazi, a world-leading expert in 3D audio theory and algorithms.
Both Dr. Simón and Dr. Fazi developed a method of monitoring the location of a listener’s head and then beaming separate sound waves to their left and right ears from a single, compact soundbar to create an immersive 3D audio experience.
In this way, it can create “virtual headphones” and deliver spatial audio which simulates sounds positioned in 3D space all around the listener. AudioScenic offers solutions for a range of different platforms and a variety of market applications.
Lee Thornton, Investment Director at IP Group, said “Having made excellent progress towards commercialising their spatial audio technology since IP Group first invested in 2019, we are delighted to continue supporting the company with additional capital in its latest fundraiser and look forward to seeing a first product hitting the shelves in 2021. With an excellent team and strongly differentiated technology, we firmly believe the company has a central role to play in a wide variety of next-generation audio systems.”
Matthew Burke, Head of Technology Ventures, Williams Advanced Engineering, adds “Audioscenic’s 3D audio loudspeaker technology is truly unique with transformative potential, and we look forward to supporting the commercialisation of this platform technology in applications such as immersive driver simulators.”