Audioburst Lands $10M

Audioburst announced today two new strategic and investment partnerships totaling over $10M USD from Dentsu Inc. and Hyundai Motor Company in conjunction with existing investors. The next-gen voice-search company plans to build unique advertising and in-car voice-based experiences with the two leading brands. Audioburst also announced plans to formally launch in the Japanese market at the end of 2019 with Japanese language capabilities.

"The investments signal an industry acknowledgment for consumer demand of voice-based experiences, and Audioburst's unmatched ability to deliver that technology," said Amir Hirsh, Co-Founder and CEO, Audioburst. "It also provides us the ability to expand and expedite our technology offering, and tap into a larger ecosystem of investors and partners in the car, media, advertising and technology spaces."

Dentsu, the world's largest agency brand, believes it's necessary to create intelligent, audio-based advertising solutions for this rapidly growing market. As part of the partnership, Dentsu will work closely with Audioburst to build a new market for personalized audio as an effective advertising channel for brands in Japan.

"Personalized advertising in the radio space has been limited to-date. In addition, the emergence of voice-activated services and audio content have provided a rapidly growing advertising opportunity for our clients," said Hideki Ishibashi, Managing Director of Dentsu Innovation Initiative. "Partnering with Audioburst allows us to offer our global clients a solution backed by millions of pieces of content and user metadata, and a powerful understanding of listeners' interests."

For Hyundai, the $5M investment also includes plans to accelerate the development and deployment of the next generation infotainment system with Audioburst's personalized audio search, playlists and Deep Analysis API. This will provide consumers with an engaging, screen-free and original-voice experience, and Hyundai with an in-depth understanding of the content being searched for and enjoyed in real-time.

"At Hyundai, our mission is to have our cars connected by 2020 and provide our customers with the best possible in-car experience," said Dr. Yun-seong Hwang, Vice President of Hyundai Motor Company. "Partnering and investing in Audioburst ensures we will lead the charge in a data-driven first class audio experience."

Today's investments bring Audioburst's current funding to $25M. Dentsu and Hyundai are joining other strategic investors including Samsung Ventures, Nippon Broadcasting Inc. and Advanced Media Inc.

About Audioburst:

Audioburst is powering personalized, next-gen listening experiences with audio bursts. Pulling from talk radio and podcasts, Audioburst uses ASR and NLP to listen, distill, contextualize and index the world's largest library of spoken word audio content into short form snippets. Audioburst's API enables companies to leverage audio content as a new layer of user engagement and monetization while consumers enjoy audio content discovery, recommendations, and a deep level of personalization through textual search or voice interaction across all devices.

The Audioburst experience is already available on several interfaces such as Audioburst Search, Alexa, and Google Home. Additionally, developers can access the Audioburst API to tap into the robust Audioburst Content Library and introduce a more dynamic and personalized listening experience for users across in-car infotainment systems, voice assistants, IoT gadgets, and smartphones. Audioburst's solutions are integrated or being built into products from brands including Samsung, LG, Bytedance, Nippon Broadcasting System, Dentsu and Hyundai.

About Dentsu:

Dentsu is the world's largest advertising agency brand. Led by Dentsu Inc. (Tokyo: 4324; ISIN: JP3551520004), a company with a history of 117 years of innovation, the Dentsu Group provides a comprehensive range of client-centric brand, integrated communications, media and digital services through its ten global network brands — Carat, Dentsu, dentsu X, iProspect, Isobar, mcgarrybowen, Merkle, MKTG, Posterscope and Vizeum — as well as through its specialist/multi-market brands. The Dentsu Group has a strong presence in over 145 countries and regions across five continents, and employs more than 60,000 dedicated professionals. Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd., its international business headquarters in London, oversees Dentsu's agency operations outside of Japan. The Group is also active in the production and marketing of sports and entertainment content on a global scale.
www.dentsu.com

About Hyundai:

Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Company is committed to becoming a lifetime partner in automobiles and beyond, offering a range of world-class vehicles and mobility services in over 200 countries. Employing more than 120,000 staff worldwide, Hyundai has sold about 4.6 million vehicles globally. Hyundai Motor continues to enhance its product line-up with vehicles built on solutions for a more sustainable future, such as NEXO — the world's first dedicated hydrogen-powered SUV.