According to a report from Wareable, Bragi has confirmed that it has sold its product business to an unnamed third-party buyer. The company will no longer make earpieces, and instead continue to focus on licensing its IP and AI.
The company has yet to reveal the identity of the buyer, but stated that any customers who own Bragi devices will continue to be supported through the existing channels, and that this will continue following the sale under the new owner.
Industry rumors and reports have suggested that the company has been a potential acquisition target from large firms like Google and Fitbit, among others.
“Bragi’s technology suite is applied beyond our own products to partners and headphone brands. The Dash Pro featured groundbreaking ultra efficient AI and software that could be updated with new features such as Amazon Alexa, language translation and personalised hearing. With the sale of our product business, Bragi has completed its transformation into a software, AI and IP licensing company.”
–Nikolaj Hviid, Bragi CEO, in statement to Wareable
With the increased awareness and popularity of wireless earbuds and hearable devices in recent years, the timing of the announcement was surprising to some industry insiders. In particular, with the looming OTC regulations in the US expected in 2020, companies like Bragi seem poised to benefit most.
**Hearing News Watch will continue to follow this developing story and will update readers as soon as additional information becomes available
It is just another proof that a successful crowdfunding campaign is not related to a commercial success in the long run. This is also, at least, the third case when a company developing Hearables switches to hearing enhancement with its 1.2B of potential hearing impaired users as a lifebuoy to stay afloat.
Unfortunately, these users have no idea about those devices and look for something else or nothing at all. It will take years to educate them.
BTW, this lesson is relevant to our Wear & Hear (www.wearandhear.com) line of products as well.