Audio Analytic passes $12m audition

UK-based sound recognition technology developer Audio Analytic today closed a $12m series B round backed by Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), the patient capital fund allied to University of Cambridge.
National Grid Partners, the corporate venturing arm of energy supplier National Grid, also participated in the round together with other unnamed existing investors.
Founded in 2010, Audio Analytic has created a sound recognition technology that relies on contextual artificial intelligence to make devices such as voice-activated smart assistants more effective.
The product taps an index of acoustic data to recognise a wide range of sounds emitted by people, animals and habitats.
Audio Analytic already supplies its technology to several licensees and partners, with the series B cash earmarked for further development to support its long-term vision of giving all machines “a sense of hearing”, it said.
The company, a member of University of Cambridge incubator Ideaspace, previously obtained $5.5m in a 2017 series A round led by CIC, with participation from Martlet, an investment arm of aerospace, defence and property group Marshall of Cambridge.
Venture firm IQ Capital Partners, Rockspring and Cambridge Angels also took part in the series A round, adding to $1.4m raised by the company in 2016 from investors including CIC, IQ Capital and Cambridge Angels.
Cambridge Angels had led a round of undisclosed size for Audio Analytic in 2010 featuring undisclosed investors, before returning four years later to inject $1.5m in angel funding.