Mobilus Labs, the creator of a wearable device which enables teams to connect at a distance, has raised £1m in funding.
The company’s round was ld by Ascension Ventures and drew support from Entrepreneur First, Newable Private Investing, LCIF, Wayra and a group of undisclosed business Angels.
Mobilus’, which is a graduate of Entrepreneur First’s eighth cohort and is currently a part of Telefonica/O2’s Wayra 2018/19 cohort, platform uses a proprietary two-way bone conduction technology to receive and transmit voice communication through micro vibrations on the user’s head.
To date, Mobilus has won paid trial contracts with Bouygues UK and BAM Nuttall to test its integrated voice communications system in real construction site environments.
These trials will be conducted over a period of 9 months, beginning this month – with a focus on onsite data collection, human factors and noise data for each site.
Additionally, as part of Telefonica WAYRA, Mobilus is working closely with O2 to identify commercial opportunities with its major construction clients as well as its clients in the blue light sector.
Mobilus was founded by Jordan McRae, who came up with the idea after a near death incident while diving off the coast of Mozambique.
McRae, an ocean and space robotics engineer from MIT and Stanford University, said: ‘I was immediately convinced of two things: one, voice is our most natural and fundamental medium for communication.
“Two, there was an opportunity to totally reinvent voice communication, even in the most extreme environments. I immediately started making prototypes, joined the EF8 cohort of Entrepreneur First, and shortly after I met Ascension who became the lead investor for the seed round. I am delighted to have them on board and look forward to turning Mobilus into the next generation platform for voice communication”
Ascension Ventures CEO Jean de Fougerolles added: “I have been hugely impressed with Jordan, his background and blend of technical and commercial acumen, and how he has on-boarded some extremely high-profile companies to trial the platform, all on a shoestring budget.
“This was Ascension’s final investment from its ASCEND SEIS Fund IV and we’re delighted to be co-investing alongside Wayra, EF and Newable again,” he concluded.