Audioscenic mini-documentary in the Founder Stories series released

Audioscenic is changing the way we experience audio with revolutionary new technology to create immersive 3D sound. Audioscenic’s Founder Story mini-documentary, released on Wednesday 25th May 2022 and is available to watch in full-length below.

Source: https://futureworlds.com/audioscenic-mini-documentary-in-the-founder-stories-series-released/

The mini-documentary hears from academic and industry experts alongside Dr Marcos Simón, co-founder of Audioscenic. At the founding of Audioscenic, Marcos was a post-doc researcher working alongside Professor Filippo Fazi, investigating new sound technologies for the reproduction of 3D sound, with a passion for engineering technology that could increase quality of life.

Marcos struck a ‘Eureka’ moment when he realised he had created technology which could benefit people’s lives. He decided to leave academia and found Audioscenic alongside Filippo. Since establishing their product-market fit, Marcos, the Audioscenic team, and their investors and partners have been on a journey to get his technology into the hands of consumers. This documentary takes the viewer through the ins-and-outs of the consumer audio and electronics industry, navigating from beginning with two co-founders to Audioscenic now being a company with a fully-fledged international team.

Marcos and Filippo have become game-changers in the field of 3D audio by using artificial intelligence user-tracking together with advanced sound field control.

As Professor Philip Nelson, former Chief Executive Officer of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), explains: “What Marcos and Filippo did, which moved the field a lot further forward, was to be able to track the listener’s head using image processing.” This enables the listener to get pin-point perfect immersive 3D sound, even as they move around, which is a completely novel technological breakthrough.

The story goes from that initial breakthrough and early demos, exhibiting a prototype on the Future Worlds stand at CES in 2017, though to the difficulties of pitching for investment and reaching customers during the first Covid lockdown before securing millions of pounds of funding. Audioscenic is now at the point of releasing gaming soundbars to the market in partnership with key international brands.

Marcos comments: “Co-founding Audioscenic has been a challenging and exciting journey as we take our groundbreaking 3D audio research and deploy it within consumer products in partnership with global brands. I’m constantly learning new things and would encourage other researchers to pursue similar opportunities. We’re very happy to have chosen the investors and partners who have made it all possible.”

Founded in 2017, Audioscenic began operating in 2018 after receiving investment from IP Group, a leading UK developer of deep tech businesses. The company was identified at the University of Southampton in late 2016 by Dr. Lee Thornton, Partner, IP Group, who has since worked very closely with the business, helping develop its commercial and financial plans and supporting its fundraising efforts. Lee remains closely involved with the business after Marcos and Filippo accepted IP Group’s initial investment that enabled Audioscenic to spinout from the University. The company went on to receive investment from Foresight Williams Technologies, adding Chris Wiles to the Audioscenic board – Chris is a Senior Investment Manager at Foresight Williams who has joined Lee in advising Marcos and Filippo on their startup journey.

Sharing their founders’ perspectives in the video are Dr Marcos Simón and Professor Filippo Fazi. Viewers also hear from David Monteith, who joined the company as CEO in 2018. David is an industry veteran with previous experience in startup licensing technology in the 3D audio space. David is considered a third “unofficial” founder of Audioscenic, and his contribution has been very important in navigating the commercial natures of the industries which Audioscenic is operating in.

Dr Marcos Felipe Simón Gálvez is a Visiting Researcher within Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton. Marcos co-invented Audioscenic’s core technology during his postdoctoral studies and co-founded the company in 2017. He is an expert in loudspeaker array and sound field control with more than 9 years of research in the field. At Audioscenic, he leads the company’s vision and is responsible for the technology’s deployment in customer’s products.

This mini-documentary is the third in the Founder Stories mini-documentary series which tells the stories of spinouts from the University of Southampton that are building on EPSRC-funded research to pursue transformational impact in the world. The series is produced by Future Worlds, the on-campus startup accelerator at the University of Southampton, and supported by EPSRC IAA funding.