UK Company Acquires UNH Startup

XMOS, a supplier of advanced embedded voice and audio solutions based in the United Kingdom, has acquired University of NH start-up Setem Technologies. According to a press release, XMOS sees this as part of its plan to change how consumers communicate with smart electronic devices in homes, vehicles, and at work. The company has established new offices in Hampton, where staff will concentrate on developing new VocalSorcery products that use Setem's patented technology.
 
UNH professor Kevin Short's research provided the foundation for Setem's algorithms, which enable devices to focus on a specific voice or conversation within a crowded audio environment to achieve optimized input into speech recognition systems. The combination of Setem's sound separation technologies with XMOS’ voice expertise and xCORE silicon devices will position its VocalSorcery products at the interface between voice processing, biometrics and artificial intelligence.
 
Mark Lippett, president and CEO at XMOS, says, “The acquisition of Setem Technologies brings XMOS many benefits, including acoustic engineering expertise, which is essential to our goal of making next generation human machine interfaces better and more accessible. We want to change the way people interact with smart environments.”
 
Last month, XMOS announced the release of the first far-field linear microphone array solution for Amazon Alexa Voice Service (AVS). The VocalFusion 4-Mic Kit for Amazon AVS enables developers to integrate Alexa into smart panels, kitchen appliances, and other wall-mounted and close-to-wall commercial and industrial electronics that benefit from “across the room” performance in a linear form factor.
 
In September XMOS announced that it had raised $15 million in a Series-E funding round, led by a strategic investment by Infineon Technologies.
 
“It’s exciting to see the growth and success of XMOS after its acquisition of Setem Technologies,” says Marc Sedam, associate vice provost for innovation and new ventures at the University of NH and managing director of UNHInnovation, the department that manages the commercialization of the university’s intellectual assets. “It is an excellent example of how the outputs of UNH research can have a much broader impact beyond the walls of the university helping advance emerging technology.”