This technological tour de force was pulled off by Vaud-based Sonix (sonixapp.com), which develops systems for ultra-low latency and high-definition audio transmission. Latency is the time it takes to transmit data over a communication channel. And while it’s an annoyance for those of us who use video-conferencing software for business meetings, it’s a real obstacle for musicians playing together remotely and for competitive gamers.
It was with musicians and gamers in mind that Sonix’s three co-founders – Raphaël Buache (CTO), Olivier Müller (COO) and Nicolas Abelé (CEO) – came up with a solution. The company, which currently has 15 employees, is based in Yverdon-les-Bains and has a subsidiary in Boston. Sonix is in the middle of a CHF 1.5m fund-raising round and on the verge of launching its product, yet Nicolas found some time to speak with us about his latest venture.
Can you tell us a little bit about your technology and what makes it innovative?
Our main product is called Sonix – just like our company name. It’s a standalone app that reduces latency by a factor of up to 10. It achieves a lag time of only 20 milliseconds (ms) end to end, versus 200 ms or more for existing communication software.
We initially developed this technology so that musicians could play together in perfect synchronicity over the internet. That said, our main target market at this point is online competitive gaming, or esports. Esports players and teams need to talk to each other while they play, yet the audio quality of the embedded voice feature offered by most games is typically low. This is a potentially huge market for us. Currently, 10 out of the 12 most popular titles out there are multiplayer games, with around 800m people playing those 10 games on their computer. Adding in consoles and games played on mobile phones, the number of players soars to 3.2bn worldwide.
We subsequently plan to expand our market to musicians – for both playing and teaching – while a third potential market will be Metaverse applications, where the aim will be for users to feel as though they’re in the same room as the people they’re interacting with.
Sonix is a pure software solution, there’s no hardware involved. That's a breakthrough, since when it comes to internet communications, software is the real bottleneck. It’s a peer-to-peer solution, which means it avoids the additional latency caused by transiting through servers. That, together with the fact that our audio communications are fully encrypted, also boosts security and privacy. And while some products out there reduce low- and high-end frequency so they have less information to compress, our algorithm doesn't cut any frequency, thus ensuring very high-quality audio.
What advantages does Vaud offer that prompted you to set up your business here?
I’ve been active on the Vaud startup scene for 20 years now, since completing my PhD at EPFL. Sonix is my fourth venture. Vaud has a really vibrant innovation ecosystem – I know of startups moving to Vaud from other parts of Switzerland because the support here is better. Not just financial assistance, but also soft support too, like coaching.
Between EPFL and HEIG-VD and the huge pool of startups, Vaud is really dynamic. There are excellent hiring opportunities, for example, and we recently submitted a joint Innosuisse funding proposal together with HEIG-VD and are currently developing another one with both EPFL and HEIG-VD. The critical mass is there.
How have the Office for Economic Affairs and Innovation (SPEI) and Innovaud helped you establish and grow your business?
We’ve really counted on the SPEI. They cover half of the cost of patent filings, prototype development and participation in trade fairs, up to a combined total of CHF 100,000. That’s quite a sum for a startup. And we’re currently working with Innovaud’s communications team to prepare our upcoming launch. They’re giving us a hand with the PR side of things. Innovaud also runs the scale-up program, which we’re really keen on joining at some point.
How important is it for you to be part of events like this year’s Investor Summit (part of the Venturelab TOP 100 Swiss Startups award)? What do you hope to get out of it?
It's crucial. There aren’t a lot of events that give startups a chance to meet with so many investors one on one. It’s much more effective than emailing a pitch deck or chasing people down individually on LinkedIn. We probably know 50% of the investors there already, so this is really a way to build on existing relationships.
In terms of specific goals, we’re working to close our current CHF 1.5m fund-raising round before the end of the year. We’ve already got a good chunk of it committed, and we’re looking for value-added private and VC investors for the remaining amount.
Being in the top 100 is an important distinction too, especially if you’re there two years in a row, like us. The competition there is stiff – I know a number of very good companies that haven’t made it. This is the third startup I’ve taken to the top 100.
What are your business development plans going forward?
We're getting ready to launch our app in the coming weeks. Once it’s available, it’ll provide us with two revenue streams, one from subscriptions and the other from branding partnerships with pro esports teams. With these partnerships, players will be able to buy the skins and badges offered by their favorite teams.
In terms of future development, we’re planning to add video to the app, as that’s important for pro esports teams – the coaches need to see their players’ faces. There are also games like chess that require users to have their webcam on to prevent cheating. Another feature in the pipeline is streaming capability.
In terms of exit strategy, we’re looking at several possible buyout scenarios. Potential buyers range from large tech companies – the ones that make consoles – to video game publishers, not to mention communication software providers and audio hardware companies.