Draft:USound GmbH

USound GmbH is a company headquartered in Graz, Austria, that develops audio solutions based on MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) technology. Founded in 2014, it employs more than 70 people, with offices in Graz, Vienna, Shenzhen and Cupertino. Its key products include MEMS speakers that are characterized for their small size and easy integration into miniaturized devices, such as TWS (True-Wireless-Stereo) earphones and OTC (Over-The-Counter) Hearing aid.

History
USound was founded in 2014 in Austria by Ferruccio Bottoni, Andrea Rusconi-Clerici, Jörg Schönbacher, and Herbert Gartner. , co-founder of SensorDynamics. USound was founded with the mission to enable customers to bring new revolutionary audio products to the market. USound achieves this through radical miniaturization, power reduction, and increased production efficiency based on MEMS technology. The first MEMS speaker was designed by USound in 2014, displaying a small form factor and high bandwidth. By 2017, USound had raised more 12 million euros in funding and had filed for more than 29 patents. In 2018, the production of the first MEMS speaker series, Ganymede, began.

Expansion
In 2021 USound raised another 25 million euros from Austrian venture capital firm eQventure, ARM co-founder Hermann Hauser and BYD Company co-founder Longzhong Yang.

By 2022, the company had already filed for more than 300 patent applications, opened additional offices in Shenzhen, China, and Cupertino, USA, launched its first audio modules for TWS and OTC hearing aids based on its second MEMS speaker series, Conamara and announced a partnership with Luxshare.

In 2023 USound announced another partnership with ASE, Inc. and Concraft / OBO Pro2 and received another 10 million euros equity from investors including Silicon Valley veteran Andy Bechtolsheim. By 2024, the company has released a wider variety of audio products, including Kore 4.0 audio module, Tarvos 1.0 ASIC linear audio amplifier, and ALA signal processing software tool.

Products
USound develops and produces a wide range of audio products, including:


 * MEMS speakers
 * Audio amplifiers ICs
 * Audio modules
 * Audio tuning software
 * Evaluation kits
 * Reference designs

MEMS speakers
USound’s audio solutions are based on MEMS technology. The company has released two MEMS speakers series, Ganymede and Conamara. The speakers of the Ganymede series are rectangular in shape and have no ferromagnetic materials, making them suitable for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) devices and other medical applications. The speakers of the Conamara series have a round and compact form factor. They are catered for true wireless earphones and over-the-counter hearing aids.

Audio amplifiers and modules
Since 2023, USound released an ASIC linear audio amplifier to drive USound MEMS speakers, named Tarvos, and an evaluation board that provides access to its key features. USound has also released the Kore audio module, which features USound’s patented technology.

Other products
USound has launched a variety of audio products based on MEMS technology. The Active Linearization Algorithm (ALA) is the company’s signal processing tool that provides audio systems developers with an additional measure for reducing the total harmonic distortion (THD). USound has also released the Amalthea linear amplifier for MEMS speaker arrays, the Helike evaluation board for prototyping and designing audio solutions, and the Danube rapid prototyping kit for audio and augmented reality or virtual reality (AR/VR) glasses. Other products include the Dione, Megaclite, Proteus, and Taygete reference designs.

Contributions and Recognition
USound GmbH has received many awards for its contributions to the audio market, including “Austria’s Born Global Champion 2017 ”, “Fast Forward Award 2018 ”, and the “Frost & Sullivan Innovation Award 2018 ”. In 2023, The Wall Street Journal described USound GmbH as one of the leading MEMS speaker developers in the world. On the same year, the company’s MEMS speakers were chosen for their non-magnetic properties by the US-based company Physical Synthesis. The MEMS speakers were integrated into a musical synthesizer that was launched into space aboard a  Space X mission with the goal of enabling sound experimentation in the absence of gravity.

USound GmbH’s products have been integrated into different products that are currently on the market, including Soranik’s in-ear monitors (IEM) and LINNER’s hearing devices