What the business is
Wearable voice-capturing mask that lets people talk without being heard by those nearby
The bet
A face mask that captures and masks the wearer's voice can find paying markets in offices, call centers, gaming and special forces
Starting capital
About $1 million: roughly half from angels and small investors, half from the French government
How it started
Skyted was founded in 2021 and had about 20 staff. It had raised around $1M, about half from angels and smaller investors and the other half from the French government, and launched a mobile app that tells users how large their 'sound bubble' is, meaning the distances at which they are perceptible and intelligible.
What happened
At CES 2024 in Las Vegas, engineer Gauthier Daridon demonstrated a prototype to TechCrunch. Through headphones the reporter heard him fairly clearly, while without them from about three feet away he heard only mumbling, and a couple of steps away it vanished into the noise. That week Skyted launched a Kickstarter campaign.
How it ended up
By 9 January 2024 the Kickstarter had sold just short of 300 masks, about $64,000 in pledges, with the first batch planned to ship by the end of 2024. The reporter was puzzled about use cases and called it a solution in search of a problem.
What has to be true
Open offices and call centers put people within earshot of private conversations
A mask plus app can show how far the wearer's voice carries
Special forces and gaming users offered a niche market to test
Kickstarter let the startup test demand before building a full production run
What can be applied
A new hardware category has to find its buyers; Skyted used a trade show and crowdfunding to see which of its segments, from call centers to gaming to special forces, would pay.
Aftermath
As of 2024-01-09, Skyted had about 300 Kickstarter masks pledged, about $64,000 raised from backers, and planned first shipments by the end of 2024.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE