Audientes A/S: Entering software platform licensing for OEMs and brands to strengthen market position and growth
Company Announcement no. 3-2024
January 12, 2024
Background
Audientes A/S ("Audientes" or the "Company"), CVR 36047631, the Danish affordable hearing health solutions company, today announces it is embarking on a strategic initiative aimed at diversifying its business and position in the value chain to accelerate revenue growth and improving its market position in the coming years.
The strategic initiative comes as the Company prepares to introduce its products in several new markets in 2024. It follows an assessment of alternative and complementary directions the Company could pursue to leverage its assets and competencies in creating additional revenue streams in the hearing and audio solutions industry value chain.
Audientes has previously on February 15, 2023, communicated that it would evaluate different alternatives including longer-term structures such as partnerships, merger, sale of the business or its assets, or a strategic investment, as part of its capitalization plan. This work has been ongoing in 2023 and secured new investors, developed new market opportunities, and opened new dialogues with other value chain companies. This has given rise to a rethink of the Company’s strategy and identified a new opportunity space which it will pursue as a complementary area in its business.
Adding a new business area to accelerate growth and impact
Audientes has explored how to leverage its software assets and products in different ways to address market needs in the global hearing solutions and audio products space. As a result, the advanced hearable product Companion has been launched and is being made available in Japan and China in early 2024.
The Company has engaged in dialogues with interested parties concerning new product development leveraging Audientes’ software platform and product reference design. These parties include innovators and companies with existing brands and sales channels, who are seeking to introduce products combining short time to market with high quality hearing technology, a complete and flexible package of ‘state of the art’ functionality.
According to the Company’s assessment, it will now be beneficial to engage with such value chain actors in the hearing and audio solutions market by focusing on a scalable platform approach to product creation with these. This will to a higher degree contribute to its longer-term objectives of helping the many millions of people, who currently do not have a quality solution for their hearing loss, with affordable and accessible hearing solutions.
Audientes will therefore include an additional area in its business, namely software platform-licensing for OEMs and brands, and initially work in a focused manner with a limited set of partners on creating excellent and affordable offerings that in turn will help people around the world hear better, which is Audientes core mission. Over time, software platform licensing is expected to become a significant part of the Company’s business.
The new initiative should also reduce the need for working capital going forward to cover the required investments in new product development, manufacturing, and market development activities, as this increasingly also will be taken care of by its licensees, e.g. OEMs and brand owners, as the licensing business develops.
Software platform licensing for OEMs and brands
With two products introduced on the international market since 2022, Audientes has gained substantial experience and feedback from its customers and commercial partners. Learnings from the collaboration with market actors in India, Japan, and China indicates that the sound quality and features in its products Ven and Companion is considered excellent when compared to quality “hearables” and hearing aids from other vendors.
Audientes has created a complete “end-to-end” solution comprising the embedded product software, the multi-platform smartphone app for hearing test and product interaction, coupled with the potential to offer remote diagnostics and fitting of patients with advanced data analytics.
The Company will now leverage its “end-to-end” solution to establish itself as a software platform provider within quality hearing and audio solutions for OEMs and brands, who wants to play in this space, but do not have the enabling platform technology themselves.
Starting in 2024, alongside its product business Audientes will pursue this incremental new opportunity within the use of its software and hardware platform developed for hearing devices sold in regulated and non-regulated markets.
Audientes is currently in discussions with several possible customers concerning the use of its software platform for creating hearing solutions together with our validated hardware platform reference design (used in Ven and Companion). Services offered to help these companies create new products include design and development competencies. The business model is based on license and project fees, including client-specific project assistance.
Products in scope for the Audientes platform may come in a variety of form factors, like neck-band designs (which Audientes have made), classic hearing aids of the Behind the Ear type (typically in the Receiver in Canal style), “True Wireless” earbud designs, and other innovative offerings.
Audientes software platform includes the firmware embedded in the products like Companion or Ven, the smartphone app available for IOS and Android, and the diagnostics, analytics and fitting services available via the cloud. Target hardware is currently the Qualcomm family of System on Chip designs (SOCs) and is expected to expand into other architectures and chip manufacturers’ solutions in line with customer needs as the business develops.
Update concerning Audientes’ own branded products
Ven™ by Audientes
Ven is Audientes first self-fitting, binaural (both ears) hearing aid in neck-band design, intended for people with severe hearing loss in one or both ears. With a built-in, industry gold-standard hearing test, NAL NL-2 fitting algorithm and audio streaming capabilities, Ven combines the sound quality of a high-end digital hearing aid with the next-generation features of a modern Bluetooth headset. Benefits include clear amplified sound and natural sounding speech due to advanced noise cancellation and personalization of the sound, coupled with Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity for calls and media streaming. An enhanced software platform upgrade release for Ven (version 2.0) was introduced in April 2023 for the Indian and Nepalese markets. Compared to its Ven 1.0 release predecessor, Ven 2.0 is providing a substantial sound experience improvement and increased amplification.
Companion by Audientes
Companion is an advanced hearable, i.e. a consumer electronics product and Bluetooth headset in one, adapted for the individual user, who want to hear better in certain situations through personalized hearing enhancement. Companion provides a valid alternative for those who are not quite ready for a traditional hearing aid, as well as for those who do not find the associated cost and stigma a good fit for them. Companion is also made in the neck-band design and builds on the Ven hardware platform, leveraging the Audientes software platform. The product is marketed in Europe and from 2024 also in Japan and China.
New products to be developed in 2024
Audientes is aiming at introducing a new hearing aid product in the more classic type called “Behind-the Ear” (BTE) initially in India and China, using the Audientes app and software platform, co-developed and manufactured with a partner. This will expand the portfolio of offerings from Audientes and reach a broader target group with a product form-factor currently representing the majority of the hearing aid market.
Competence build-up part of future capitalization plan
Audientes will adjust its strategy and execution to include software platform licensing for OEMs and brands, leveraging its software and hardware platform and product creation skills.
While the Company intends to remain lean, it aims to expand its capabilities within software, hardware, and audio to help its partners design, develop, and manufacture hearing and audio products for regulated and non-regulated markets. During the past years, the Company has built up a network of experts and supply chain partners across Europe and Asia, with whom it will continue the collaboration and grow in new directions to deliver great customer experiences in the future projects.
The new business area will initially be directed by the Company’s leadership team, consisting of CTO and Founder Hossein Jelveh and CEO Steen Thygesen. Hossein Jelveh has been leading the development of the software and hardware platform for Audientes over the past years and has extensive experience within software architecture management from his past at Nokia Corp. Steen Thygesen has prior to his involvement at Audientes been managing global software licensing and smartphone products at companies such as Symbian PLC, Microsoft Corp. and Nokia Corp., where customers have included OEMs and mobile operators. Together they possess the experience needed to start executing on this new business area and growth opportunity.
Summary
Based on the past years of product development, marketing, and sales, Audientes have gained much real-world experience from being in the market with its Ven and Companion products. The Company has constantly been focused on evolving its software assets and hardware platform to improve the user experience and product market fit for its products.
Audientes will continue to pursue its product business and market products under its own brand. During 2023 the Company has developed new market opportunities and prepared to introduce its Companion product in fully localized versions for the Japanese and Chinese markets, which will take place early 2024. As announced on December 22, 2023, all technical approvals are now in place and the remaining tasks to create the localized products will take place as soon as practically possible. The Ven hearing aid will also continue to be marketed in India and Nepal in collaboration with local distribution partners.
The Company now looks forward to opening another exciting chapter in its evolution, platform licensing, capitalizing on its experience in software platform and audio product creation, regulatory matters, marketing and sales. Audientes is dedicated to delivering high-quality, affordable hearing aids and advanced hearables in collaboration with its partners and customers, while working towards a sustainable and profitable future as a company to the benefit for its shareholders.
For further information, please contact:
Steen Thygesen, CEO, Audientes A/S
Phone: +45 53 17 26 10
Email: [email protected]
About Audientes A/S
Audientes A/S is a Danish hearing health company specializing in smart, self-fitting and affordable hearing aids and advanced hearables. Audientes’ unique hearing aid solution, Ven™ by Audientes, is available for purchase in the Indian and Nepalese markets and will be introduced in other markets in the coming years. Companion by Audientes is an advanced hearable, a consumer electronics product, that is commercially available in Europe and later in 2024 in Japan, China, and other markets.
Audientes’ mission is to make high-quality hearing aids and hearables for hearing improvement or hearing enhancement accessible to everyone who needs them globally. Audientes is listed on Spotlight Stock Market Denmark (AUDNTS) and headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark with a subsidiary in Hyderabad, India. For additional information please refer to the company’s websites, www.audientes.com, www.audientes.eu, or www.audientes.in.
This company announcement is published in Danish, Swedish and English. In case of any discrepancy between the English version and the Danish or Swedish translation, the English version prevails.
This disclosure contains information that Audientes is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU nr 596/2014). The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person, on 12-01-2024 08:30 CET.