1. HEARGLASS a potential lifestyle changer for the hearing impaired:
Eyeglass platform incorporating hearing aids (“HA”)
o full audible sound spectrum HiFi
o directional hearing experience, superior to traditional HAs
o Bluetooth/WiFi capabilities for hands-free music streaming, telephony
Key applications: hearing disability/enhancement, and hearing loss prevention
(military, trades), health monitoring/fitness tracking, AR/VR
Key complaints with today’s HAs HEARGLASS Solution
Distortion from truncated audio spectrum Preserves full audible spectrum
Hard to hear amid ambient noise Directional mic
Limited/no user tunability Smartphone or remote-tuned at will
Expensive and unergonomic batteries Rechargeable like smartphone
Missed audio lost forever “What” button replays last 3 seconds
High ~$4K avg cost + batteries and loss Subscription: $450 hardware + $50/mo
Target Market:
Begin with dissatisfied HA owners and their relatives
NIH estimates 28.8MM US adults could benefit from using HAs
Worldwide HA sales in 2015 exceeded $20Bn, with 500MM people hearing impaired
Sales/Marketing Strategy:
OEM technology licensing for 3rd
party product incorporation
PR, social media channels and influencer endorsement
E-comm to bypass incumbent channels (HA unit cost ~$60 sells for ~$4,000)
Opportunistically and innovatively partner with eyeglass/HA and healthcare industries,
AR/VR OEMs
Primary Competitors: 6 major high-end HA manufacturers worldwide with relatively stagnant technology – HEARGLASS a
first mover with its patent-pending analog/digital hardware and software
Competitive Advantage: 2 US patents awarded, 3 pending foreign applications and additional patents pending. Clear
functional benefits to users provide first mover advantage and support direct-to-consumer distribution
Current Tech Status: Initial prototypes (v4) successfully tested with hearing-impaired users, incl. celebrities
Use of Proceeds: Advance R&D, user testing, product launch
Key Team:
Peter Sprague: Chairman – National Semiconductor, Aston Martin, Advent Corporation and Wave Systems
Janet Baker: Founder Dragon Systems, developed speech recognition dictation technology, in Apple Siri, etc
Nolan Bushnell: Atari, Inc. and Chuck-E-Cheese founder, author of “Finding the Next Steve Jobs”
Wayne Boyle: Turtle Beach Dir. of Engineering; 28 years inventing solutions for complex audio problems
Jason Chang: Private equity investor Bateleur Capital, investment banking Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley
Company Profile:
hearglass.com
Industry: Lifestyle Computing
Founded: 2014
Contact:
Peter Sprague, Chairman
peter@sprague.com
+1.917.667.4773
Jason Chang, CFO
jasonchang.nyc@gmail.com
+1.917.576.2795
Financial Information:
Funding Stage: Seed
Cash Equity: $1.5MM
Pre-Money Valuation: $20MM
Capital Seeking: $4-7MM
Team:
Peter Sprague
Janet Baker
Nolan Bushnell
Wayne Boyle
David Berten
Jason Chang
Peter Frishauf
Rasmus Holm-Jorgensen
Mary Howard