Mimi Hearing Technologies, a Berlin-based leader in hearing wellbeing and audio personalisation software, announced that it has secured €22.1M funding in Series B led by MIG Capital. The funding comes on the heels of big partnerships with audio brands like Skullcandy, Beyerdynamic, Cleer Audio and Chinese smartphone OEM Shenzhen Rillya.
Mimi Hearing Technologies: What you need to know
Mimi Hearing Technologies was founded in 2014 in Berlin with the singular mission of making sound better. The startup is focused on overcoming the barriers to better hearing. It is also the leader in hearing-based audio personalisation and licences its science-based hearing enhancement technology to B2B customers including “electronic device manufacturers, streaming providers and hearing aid companies”.
Audio has emerged as one of the major platforms during the pandemic and Mimi offers a solution that allows companies to build devices that know how people hear and tune the devices for individual hearing ability. The company says it is focused on bridging the gap between hearing and audio, allowing the listener to get the most personalised sound experience.
It makes this possible with a unique processing technology that replicates the way the human ear works. The technology adapts the audio signal to a user’s hearing ability and tries to compensate for less than perfect hearing. Mimi says the resulting technology is one where listeners can hear more again, enjoy their music and follow the dialogue.
It is a known fact that continuous listening at high volume can be detrimental to hearing health. Mimi’s processing technology allows users to listen at reduced volume levels by overcoming masking and ensuring there is no loss of detail even at lower volumes. The technology enables personalised hearing ID offering increased speech clarity and improved intelligibility.
Fund utilisation
With the new €22.1M Series B funding round, Mimi Hearing Technologies aims to expand its efforts to deliver better and healthier hearing experiences to more people worldwide. The startup is looking to expand its product offerings in existing device categories such as headphones and TV displays. The funding round will also allow Mimi to move into additional signal processing and audio platforms.
Audio personalisation has become the new normal among audio makers and Mimi is looking to bring the technology to smartphones. The funding will also help Mimi expand its sales and marketing operations in China and the United States. The US and China are home to major content providers and consumer electronics manufacturers and Mimi wants to tap this market.
Investors
The funding round is led by MIG Capital in a consortium with a larger Munich-based family office and private investment company Salvia. The family office of Helmut Jeggle, along with additional German family offices and existing shareholders joined this round.
The lead investor MIG Capital garnered attention last year as the founding investor in BioNTech, the German biotech company that partnered with Pfizer for the development of the first COVID-19 vaccine. Moritz Bratzke, CFO of Mimi, says, “Their investment in Mimi is another testament not only to the depth and breadth of the German venture capital climate but also to the importance and tremendous commercial potential of Mimi’s vision.”
Boris Bernstein, Partner at MIG Capital, says, “We are excited to support Mimi in achieving its ambition to build a disruptive hearing health platform, particularly given their track record of attracting great customers for their software business in multiple categories. Mimi’s unique and protected IP not only personalises sound sensation but also makes a major contribution to understanding and protecting hearing.”
“As a former board member of Sivantos (ex Siemens Audiology Solutions), I gained appreciation for the huge need in the audiology space and thus the demand for innovative products,” said Helmut Jeggle, founder and managing partner at Salvia.
