Live audio tech provider Mixhalo raises $24m
Live audio tech service Mixhalo has raised US$24 million in a series-B funding round.
The funding, which follows a $10.7m series-A round in 2019, will primarily go towards new hires and research & development.
The San Francisco-based startup was founded in 2016 by Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger and violinist Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger with an initial goal to bring better sound quality to concerts.
Instead of hearing music blasted out of speakers, users can connect their smartphone to a network (the startup creates its own wireless channel that doesn’t rely on the venue’s potentially overloaded Wi-Fi or cell networks). Then, through their earbuds, they’ll hear the same sound mix that the musicians receive through their in-ear monitors.
The San Francisco-based startup was founded in 2016 with an initial goal to bring better sound quality to concerts
Clients and partners to date include Aerosmith, Charlie Puth, Incubus, Metallica, Sting, Staples Center (soon-to-be Crypto.com Arena), and multiple venues housing NBA and NHL teams.
Mixhalo’s latest funding round is led by Fortress Investment, the firm behind TSX Broadway, a Times Square-based retail complex that features an outdoor stage. Mixhalo’s technology will be integrated into the space’s venue.
Another new major investor is pro audio sound system manufacturer L-Acoustics, which will now be Mixhalo’s exclusive professional audio partner.
Mixhalo’s series A investors also contributed to the series-B round, including Foundry Group, Sapphire Sport, Founders Fund, Defy Partners, and Another Planet Entertainment.
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C3, Red Light, Another Planet invest in Mixhalo
Mixhalo, an audio tech start-up founded by Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger and his wife, Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger, has raised US$10.7 million to fund its mission to “democratise” concert sound.
Investors in the series-A investment round, led by Foundry Group, include US promoters C3 Presents (Charlie Walker), Superfly (Rick Farman and Rich Goodstone) and Another Planet Entertainment, UK artist management firm Red Light Management, and venture-capital outfits Cowboy Ventures, Sapphire Sport and Defy Partners, reports TechCrunch.
Pharrell Williams was also an early investor in the company, as were WME’s Marc Geiger and mega-producer Rick Rubin, which has raised a total of $15m to date.
Similar to European start-up Peex (which additionally enables listeners to create their own mixes), the Mixhalo app allows fans to listen through headphones to audio direct from the soundboard – ie the mix artists hear in their in-ear monitors – rather than through speakers, for improved sound quality.
“Mixhalo envisions a world where everyone experiences great live audio, regardless of their seat or ticket cost”
The platform also allows artists and concert organisers to offer multiple mixes for a single concert, or feeds from multiple festival stages, allowing users to tailor their concert experience to them.
Mixhalo CEO Marc Ruxin says the company is “definitely solving a problem in music that people don’t realise they have”, comparing it to watching television in the pre-HD age. “Now, sports that’s not in HD looks crappy,” Ruxin explains.
Mixhalo has been deployed at shows by Charlie Puth, Incubus and Metallica, as well as Aerosmith’s current Las Vegas residency, Deuces are Wild.
Ruxin tells TechCrunch he is currently focused on music and sports, but is also open to other working with other sectors, as the technology can also installed in, for example, a theatrical musical with “no technical tweaks.”
“Mixhalo envisions a world where everyone experiences great live audio, regardless of their seat or ticket cost,” comments Ruxin. “We are democratising sound at live events.”
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