Music is becoming a digital-first industry, and total revenues from streaming accounted for approximately 80% of all recorded music revenues in 2019. Companies like IRIS are guarantee that listeners receive the best sound quality when streaming music. IRIS changes the listening experience through its proprietary algorithm that creates a superior audio experience and the tech stack is available for licensing to be integrated with hardware and software applications.
London TechWatch interviewed the CCO of IRIS, Tom Darnell, to discuss the most recent funding round and launch of the pre-sale for IRIS’ headphone product.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
IRIS is a venture-funded by a circle of high-profile investors from the worlds of music and technology. The first round of investment was raised from names including the tech investor Russ de Leon, Mansour Ojjeh (President and CEO of TAG Group), Roger Taylor (the drummer from legendary band Queen) and the world’s largest truly independent music and theatrical rights company, Concord.
Tell us about the product or service that Iris offers.
IRIS is a technology that gives you a heightened audio experience bringing incredible detail, layers, and quality to any recorded audio. This is the first time you will be able to listen to a recorded track as though you were experiencing it in the live environment, just as the artist intended you to hear it. It is like being in every seat at the concert at once.
What makes IRIS so different from any other technology on the market is its patented algorithm that works by splitting out and increasing the information sent to the brain whilst listening. When this happens, the brain then reassembles this vast increase in information and becomes far more active and engaged. The benefits of IRIS are twofold – superior quality music and a more engaged, exercised mind. IRIS doesn’t change what you listen to, but simply how you listen to it.
What inspired the start of IRIS?
With a clear vision and desire to instigate change in the music space by bringing ‘live’ experiences to everyone, IRIS founder and CEO Jacobi Anstruther became obsessed with tackling music compression and audio quality issues. It was in 2016, while exploring the idea of a festival that would blend music and social change with audio quality at its heart, that Jacobi was introduced to the two engineers of IRIS technology. Instantly blown away by the superior audio experience, he began to build a business model and fundraising to establish IRIS in 2018.
How is IRIS different?
IRIS is simply the best audio technology out there and activates the brain as no other music can. It is completely unique to the market – no one else offers this superb quality and depth of sound, it is absolutely exclusive to us. IRIS doesn’t take you back to the CD era, IRIS doesn’t even take you back to the vinyl era. IRIS takes you back to the very room where the music was originally recorded. Moreover, whilst others are seeking out high definition formats, which are data-hungry and rely on big bandwidths, IRIS achieves the better quality on top of a standard MP3 format, in real-time.
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What market are you targeting and how big is it?
The most interesting thing is that IRIS is for everyone. At a consumer level, we’re working to target the booming wellness market to bring Active Listening to the forefront of wellness audio, the highly competitive music market as IRIS brings such a superior quality to audio recordings. To the tech/B2B market, IRIS is licensing its patented technology to audio companies for integration with hardware and software applications, building an ecosystem that allows people to listen well everywhere.
Who do you consider to be your primary competitors?
We are doing something fundamentally different than anyone else in the market, for this reason it is hard to pinpoint competitors as such. Through our ambition to build an ecosystem where users can listen well everywhere, we are working with many of the existing players in the audio space to integrate seamlessly into software and hardware solutions.
What’s your business model?
IRIS is primarily a B2B licensing business, we plan to build an ecosystem enabling people everywhere to listen well through the content streaming services and hardware solutions they already know and love. Alongside that vision, IRIS currently has an iOS live where you can experience active listening for yourself, with our Android version launching in early April. We have also launched pre-sales for our exclusive headphone product, designed to be the very best listening experience, whilst showcasing the audio quality and immersive experience that IRIS presents to users.
What was the funding process like?
We have a fantastic group of investors who truly bought into the vision for IRIS, they share our view of the world, where audio and how people engage their senses, in pursuit of wellness, are only going to grow. Mental wellness is something the world is now taking far more seriously, and what better way to bring solutions in that space than augmenting a sensory input that people spend many hours each day already doing; listening to music.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
As with any startup venture, ensuring you are pitching your vision well is crucial. This takes time to hone but strong messaging (along with a solid strategy and roadmap) and an exceptional founding team builds confidence with potential investors.
Another crucial aspect of fundraising is selecting the right investors. This is sometimes forgotten, as strategic investors can add so much more than financing.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Series A, Headphones, and Partnerships.
With the world currently facing uncertainty with the global COVID-19 pandemic, just like every other business, we have had to pivot our strategy to account for the situation we are all facing in the world right now. The safety of our employees and members of our community are of paramount importance, but whilst we are all isolating, what we have been able to do is accelerate our plans for building out our community with end-users, including sharing wellness content, fast-tracking our Android app release, and other content which may be of help to people facing isolation in their homes over the course of the next few weeks.
The safety of our employees and members of our community are of paramount importance, but whilst we are all isolating, what we have been able to do is accelerate our plans for building out our community with end-users, including sharing wellness content, fast-tracking our Android app release, and other content which may be of help to people facing isolation in their homes over the course of the next few weeks.
Later this year, when we are through the peak of the global pandemic, we have plans to launch the sales phase of our headphone product and pursue series A funding.
What advice can you offer companies in London that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Leverage your network, don’t fear seeking advice and support, work with experts who have access to sources of funding and hone your pitch.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We are excited about the growth of IRIS in 2020 and beyond, we firmly believe we have a proposition which is loved by users and adds so much to their audio experience and overall well-being. Our conversations with potential partners continue at pace, as does our growth in community, app downloads, and presales for IRIS headphones. Despite the current global disruption, we have a big 2020 ahead.
What is your favorite restaurant in London?
Ethos, a vegetarian and vegan concept that serves up an incredible mix of tasty food to keep the whole team energised!
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