Benjamin Willis and Joe Dieter want to change the way we listen to audio.
The Seattle-based entrepreneurs recently raised $700,000 for their new company, Human Inc., which employs 15 inside the old Rainier Brewery building just south of downtown Seattle.
“This is something we wanted to do for a long time,” Willis, the CEO, told GeekWire. “It’s a take on sound and headphones that will completely disrupt and replace much of what the industry is currently using.”
Willis wouldn’t say much more about Human, other than noting that “the company is really on a mission to see technology become more natural, and almost biological.” He added that Human’s employees come from companies like Microsoft, Google, and SpaceX. The company plans on launching a crowdfunding campaign for its first product next summer and will bring on an additional 15 employees early next year.
Before founding Human one year ago, Dieter and Willis launched a housewares startup called Yum Tools, which made innovative kitchen products like a citrus zester. They sold that company in 2014 to LifeTime Brands specifically to start Human, which is the duo’s fourth startup.
Dieter and Willis are running Human under an umbrella company called Genus, which they founded last year. Genus describes itself as an “innovation company” that “generates ideas that make the future simpler, safer, and beautiful.”
The co-founders wouldn’t name their investors, but said that they closed the $700,000 round within 48 hours.
