Audience, an audio software company backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has filed to raise $75 million in an initial public offering. The Mountain View, California company claims to have created the “world’s most intelligent voice processor,” a technology that delivers crystal clear sound in noisy situations.
“Our products enable a more consistent voice and audio experience, regardless of the use case or surrounding noise environment,” the company writes in its SEC filing.
More than 60 mobile devices have shipped with the earSmart technology, including the HTC Vivid, Samsung Galaxy S and Google/HTC Nexus One. Audience sells its products to mobile phone manufacturers, namely Asian giants such as Foxconn and Protek. Together, those two equipment makers consisted of 81 percent of Audience’s revenue in 2010.
Since its founding in 2000 and launch in 2008, the company said that it has sold over 135 million processors to mobile phone and tablet customers. Revenue for 2010 was $47.9 million, jumping to $79.7 million for the first nine months of 2011. Net income was $4.8 million in 2010 and $13.9 million for the first nine months of last year.
Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital is the third largest shareholder in Audience, holding a 25 percent stake. Tallwood Venture Capital holds 32 percent, and New Enterprise Associates holds 30 percent.
Audience plans to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker ADNC.
