Mogees picks up seed funding to put audio-based gesture recognition tech into new devices

Mogees, the London startup behind the Mogees Pro and Mogees Play contact microphone and machine learning-based music and gaming devices, has raised $1.1 million in seed funding — capital it plans to use to embed its “gestural recognition tech” into new products and applications.

Specifically, the company says it is developing new multi-platform hardware and software targeting IoT, gaming, VR, AR, “smart toys” and industrial applications.

Founder Bruno Zamborlin tells this will consist of an embedded/wireless version of the Mogees technology in the form of a tiny chip designed to improve third party products.

“What I think is great about our technology is that it is non-intrusive, incredibly sensitive and works well with pretty much any physical object an shape,” he says.

“We are now looking for further investors and partners interested in improving their products through machine learning. Clearly this news reflects our confidence that Mogees technology has applications beyond music and interactive entertainment with many obvious uses and benefits across a wide range of sectors”.

What those “obvious” use cases are, the startup isn’t saying and I’m clearly not smart enough to make too many guesses.

The company’s first product targeted musicians with a device that could work with both iOS and a Mac and professional MIDI/DAW software, such as Apple’s Logic Pro. It essentially turns any surface into a musical instrument and professional sound design tool.

The second Mogees Play product is more affordable and aimed at casual gaming and the education market, with an emphasis on being musical without much or any prior musical knowledge.

Meanwhile, Mogees’ investors include Elio Leoni Sceti (former CEO of Iglo group and previously CEO of EMI), Haim Perry (founder and board member of Hotels4U), and Eric Nicoli CBE (former Non-Executive Chairman of HMV Group plc, and also a former Chair of EMI Group, amongst numerous positions). A.I. Music Group, founded by Siavash Mahdavi, also participated in the seed round.

In other words, an investor list with a heavy bent towards music, retail, entertainment, in addition to tech.