«We believe there will be many exit opportunities along the way»

SONIX is transforming the way 3 billion gamers communicate. Make no mistake: they won't stop there. CEO Nicolas Abelé shares insights on growth plans, unique tech, and exit opportunities in this exclusive interview.

OOMNIUM: Why did you decide to hold a Public Round with OOMNIUM?
N.A.: To date, we have followed a classical path for high-tech/high-potential startups by sharing our vision with VCs and business angels, who have invested in SONIX over the past few years. This has been of enormous help in developing our patented, ultra-low latency, AI-audio technology. Twelve months ago, we launched the first beta version of our full communication platform for gamers. It integrates our core audio technology, as well as a complete set of features: video, chat, whiteboard, 3D avatars, and a marketplace. With this, we have attracted more than 25,000 gamers to SONIX, almost entirely through word of mouth.

Many of these gamers have expressed interest in impacting SONIX by providing feedback on new features and/or becoming co-owners of the platform. Many of them initially used Discord but were frustrated by its size and the lack of opportunity to influence it. They helped grow Discord to what it is today but did not benefit from its 1000x valuation increase in the past 10 years.

We listened to the community and decided to open our capital to everyone.

However, gaming is an expensive hobby, so we lowered the financial entry barrier as much as possible to reach the largest number of gamers, setting the minimum investment at 500 CHF. At the same time, for a company with our global ambitions, it's important to keep the number of investors relatively low to attract top gaming VCs in the future.

OOMNIUM is the only platform that provides both aspects in a very elegant and efficient way.

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OOMNIUM: What makes your product unique for someone who isn't a gamer?
N.A.: Everyone experiences those awkward moments during Zoom calls when a couple of people want to talk, but the lag causes them to speak with a slight delay and overlap each other. They say, "Sorry, you first, no you first," which ruins the natural flow of the conversation. This is more or less okay in a business discussion, but imagine having this happen with a group of five friends. It becomes very annoying.

In short: The SONIX SUPERSONIX call eliminates lag.

The first uniqueness is eliminating lag. The second uniqueness is eliminating background noise. For example, when someone on the call is in a noisy environment, such as on a bus or metro surrounded by noisy people - or eating chips. This is only possible thanks to our entirely unique AI algorithm, trained specifically on distinct audio patterns, which allows for ultra-low latency and noise-cancelling.

OOMNIUM: What inspired you to develop this product?
N.A.: The core ultra-low latency audio technology was initially developed to enable interaction and communication over the internet that feels as if you are next to each other. We started demonstrating our technology with professional musicians in the most extreme case you can imagine. Imagine three musicians performing on stage at the Montreux Jazz Festival, playing simultaneously with two musicians on another stage at the "Jazz à Vienne" festival. All of the musicians play in sync, performing a joint live concert as if they were on the same stage. We premiered this concept in 2022.

This opens up many applications in music for teaching, business, satellite communication, and gaming. We've focused on gaming, but as an investor, it's important to remember that the underlying technology can grow beyond gaming.

OOMNIUM: Are you working toward an exit?
N.A.: As a serial startup founder, you're always thinking about the exit, the milestones that will lead to it, and the list of potential acquirers. Currently, we are not actively pursuing an exit because we believe that we can create tremendous value for the company with our current roadmap. However, we are always keeping our eyes open for opportunities. The Discord CEO recently said that he had received many acquisition proposals, including one for $12 billion from Microsoft. However, they refused them all because they are preparing for an IPO. We believe there will be many exit opportunities along the way, the first of which will arise once we reach 1 million monthly active users in two to three years.

OOMNIUM: What will you do with the capital you raise once you reach your funding goal?
N.A.: We have spent a lot of time developing SONIX's unique selling propositions: AI-Audio, the Marketplace, and the Esports tournament. We still have work to do on developing the other features that will make SONIX a "feature-complete" app, such as communities and game portals. A large portion of the crowdfunding will be allocated towards product development to achieve this "feature-complete" stage.

Another key use of the funds will be for strategic partnerships with tier-one esports teams, ambassadors, and content creators to quickly grow the marketplace and communities.

The remaining funds will be used to raise awareness of SONIX among gamers by participating in gaming events and organizing esports tournaments.

OOMNIUM: Thanks a lot for the insights, Nicolas - we can't wait to hear about your successes in the future!