Participated · Series C · Jan 2022

DSP Concepts develops the Audio Weaver platform and positions itself as an enabler of the 'Audio of Things'. Its Audio Weaver platform powers sound and voice features in many of the world's leading consumer and automotive brands. The company is based in Santa Clara, CA. DSP Concepts has closed a $28 million Series C financing. The round was led by entrepreneur investor Yuchun Lee, with participation from new and previous investors including Sony Innovation Fund, Subaru, Porsche Digital, and others. DSP Concepts develops Audio Weaver, a graphical block-diagram editor and module library that lets audio engineers combine, customize and optimize audio-processing algorithms. The platform includes hundreds of pre-written, pre-tested and pre-optimized modules and works closely with chip manufacturers to ensure compatibility across chipsets. Modules include TalkTo, aimed at giving voice assistants robust "super-hearing" in noisy environments. Audio Weaver began as a tool in the founders' consulting business before being productized and sold to customers such as Tesla, Porsche, GoPro and Braun Audio. The company is led by co-founders Chin Beckmann (CEO) and Paul Beckmann (CTO), a husband-and-wife team. Financially, DSP Concepts has now raised more than $25 million in total funding. DSP Concepts provides embedded audio digital signal processing solutions delivered through its Audio Weaver platform, focusing on microphone processing, playback processing, and voice UI technologies. Audio Weaver is a modular DSP software framework that accelerates development, enables tuning across processors, and leverages multicore SoCs to improve voice recognition performance and lower system cost. The company positions its technology for applications across automotive infotainment, consumer electronics, IoT, and home automation and lists partners including Amlogic, Cadence, Knowles, STMicroelectronics, and Texas Instruments. In automotive use cases, Audio Weaver streamlines telematics development by integrating audio processing within head unit software stacks and easing processor prototyping and third‑party algorithm integration. DSP Concepts plans to transition from an engineering services business to a technology licensing business, making its tested technology broadly available. The company recently completed a Series A financing that will support the transition and scaling of operations.

Participated · Equity · Jul 2018

Miles provides a universal rewards platform and mobile app that awards users ‘miles’ for travel across every mode of transportation, with higher rewards for alternative or more sustainable modes. Users can view miles earned per trip, participate in weekly and monthly activity challenges, redeem personalized rewards from a marketplace of more than 200 brands, or donate miles to charity. Reward partners include brands and services such as ButcherBox, Harry’s Razors, Home Chef, Noom, Thrive Market, and gift cards from Amazon, Starbucks, Target and Walmart. The platform also supports donations to charities including Doctors Without Borders, Feeding America and The Pride Foundation. To date, users have earned 12 billion miles, redeemed 7 million rewards and realized more than $50 million in savings. The company plans to use new funding to invest in R&D, expand its marketplace, and grow its team to accelerate growth and deliver value to partners and its user base. Miles operates a rewards app that tracks travel and physical activity and issues points redeemable with nearly 200 partner merchants. The core product incentivizes travel and greener modes of transport with multiplier bonuses (public transit 3x; biking, walking and jogging 10x) and temporary COVID-era bonuses (up to 20x for physical activity). The company has adapted its messaging during the pandemic to encourage staying home while driving redemptions with partner offers. Miles has a partnership with the Jacksonville Transportation Authority to reward public-transit riders and is already operating in North America and Japan. The startup says users have redeemed over 500,000 rewards and received more than $10 million in discounts. To date the company has raised roughly $7.4 million, and it recently secured a strategic investment from Liil Ventures to fund further expansion. Miles is a mobile app that tracks users' travel by foot, bike, car, rideshare, bus, train and plane, and awards reward miles on a sliding scale based on eco-friendliness. The app is available on iOS and gives new users 2,000 miles (enough for a $5 Starbucks, Target, or Whole Foods gift card) and features nearby and online merchant deals that can be redeemed with miles. Miles’ platform includes predictive AI to deliver hyper‑targeted offers based on location and past preferences. The team foresees selling aggregated traffic and usage data to city governments and working with municipalities to incentivize sustainable transportation; the Contra Costa Transportation Authority plans to offer rewards via the Miles platform and Seattle is evaluating it. The company raised $3 million from Porsche Digital, Scrum Ventures and others, with former TechCruncher Keith Teare assisting on the raise.