Icelandic deeptech startup, Treble Technologies, which develops next-generation sound simulation and spatial audio technology for digital twins and virtual worlds, has picked up €8 million in funding. The investment combines €5.5 million in seed funding and €2.5 million grant from European Innovation Council.
Early 2023 launch expected
The oversubscribed round was led by Nordic VC Frumtak Ventures (that invested in Sidekick and Empower) with participation from NOVA (the venture arm of Saint-Gobain, the Fortune 500 company and one of the world’s largest building materials companies) and various angel investors.
The investment round will be used by Treble to revolutionise digital sound and scale its virtual sound platform. The product is in the latter stages of development and will soon be ready for public beta testing, before launch in early 2023. This funding will let Treble widen its commercial network and infrastructure ahead of a period of intense growth.
Commenting on the round, Treble founder and CEO Dr Finnur Pind said: “In just two short years, Treble has managed to establish itself as a serious and credible leader in our space. The funding will enable us to launch and scale our platform, with the first release scheduled in early 2023, as we rapidly scale the company.”
Frumtak managing partner Svana Gunnarsdottir commented: “The Nordics have a long and proud history of delivering truly original, innovative technologies, and Frumtak are delighted to support Treble. We are incredibly impressed by the work to date, in such a short time frame, and look forward to supporting the team as they continue to scale and widen applications of the technology. Treble’s potential is enormous.”
The brainchild of acoustic engineers
Treble Technologies was founded in 2020 by acoustic engineers, Dr. Finnur Pind and Jesper Pedersen in Reykjavik, Iceland. They have extensive experience and expertise in sound simulation. Treble’s current team size is 24 people, of which 16 are male, and eight are female. It comprises six native Icelanders, six from other European countries, one from the US, and one from India.
The company specialises in sound simulation for real-world applications and bringing hyper-realistic audio soundscapes to the metaverse. Treble’s proprietary technology will disrupt the sound world and how it is understood, modelled, and moulded. They also won the annual New Nordics Pitch Competition Grand Final at Slush 2022 recently held in Helsinki.
The platform provides users with the tools to dive into immersive audio-visual auralisation, allowing for the design of rich soundscapes whilst simultaneously comparing design iterations. Treble’s use cases include architecture, automotive design as well as audio and music equipment design (headphones, sound systems and venue acoustics), and can even enhance the immersive capabilities of virtual worlds in video games and the metaverse, by providing the hyper realistic audio needed to mimic real world environments.
Treble users include international architecture studios Henning Larsen and Bjarke Ingels Group, as well as global civil engineering leader COWI, plus pilot projects are underway with some of the most prestigious companies in the global tech and automotive industries.