Lightspeed Audio Labs Inc.
Announces Seed Round Funding
Start-Up Company Founded by Industry Experts to Facilitate Real-Time Music Collaboration and Creation via the Internet
Tinton Falls, NJ – May 1, 2006 – Lightspeed Audio Labs Inc., today announced the closing of $1,250,000 seed-stage funding. The funding was provided by SAS Investors, a New York City-based venture capital firm specializing in early-stage investments. Ramana Jampala, a Partner with SAS Investors, joins co-founder Mark Malek on the Board of Directors.
Lightspeed Audio is currently operating in stealth mode, and intends to raise $6-10 million Series-A funding within the next 12 months. The company will use the proceeds of the seed-stage funding to complete the architectural design and prototype of its online audio collaboration and content creation platform.
According to Mr. Malek, “The explosive growth of the Internet being used as a public service infrastructure for communication, collaboration, community, and entertainment has provided Lightspeed Audio with a tremendous opportunity to be a groundbreaker in the area of real-time, online audio collaboration and content creation.”
Describing the investment opportunity Mr. Jampala said, “We have known the technical founders for a few years now and it is rare to find complementary, world-class expertise spanning data-networking, audio coding, and musicology. The Lightspeed Audio solution will facilitate music production between music enthusiasts, which could dramatically enhance Internet-based collaboration. The Internet has dis-intermediated sales, marketing and distribution of the music business, but the key technical limitations of bandwidth, packet loss, and packet latency over the Web have hindered online music creation and collaboration. Lightspeed Audio’s team has the expertise required to address these key problems.”
“Our innovations in audio codec technology, combined with the proliferation of broadband access and the increased power of both client and server PCs, permits our engineering team to architect and deliver a significantly new type of service for musicians, music enthusiasts, and fans,” explained co-founder Dr. Schuyler Quackenbush, a former AT&T Bell Labs principal researcher and Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society.
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SAS Investors facilitates the creation and growth of seed and early-stage core technology companies in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions. Located in New York City and backed by Canaan Partners, Rho Capital Partners, and Sevin Rosen Funds, SAS Investors targets companies that provide solutions based on technologies emerging out of tech transfer centers, universities, and/or corporate labs. For more information, visit www.sasinvestors.com. |
Based in Tinton Falls, NJ, Lightspeed Audio Labs represents the new wave of Web 2.0 technology that combines community, content, collaboration and commerce, offering unique value to artists, fans and sponsors. Its patented technology platform provides a virtual studio and venue for musicians, jammers and fans alike to participate in the music-making process, where unique musical content is shared with others in real time. With Lightspeed Audio Labs, it’s live, in real time, all the time! For more information, visit www.lightspeedaudiolabs.com. |
