auryx raises $2M to transform earbuds into health monitors
auryx has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding, which will be used to build a platform that turns everyday devices, such as earbuds, into continuous health monitors using sound. By analysing acoustic signals from the heart, lungs, and blood flow, the company enables existing microphones in consumer hardware to capture physiological data in real time – without the need for additional sensors or changes in user behaviour.
The funding round was led by Celero Ventures, with participation from EWOR, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Vento, PurposeTech, and additional institutional and angel investors.
The company was founded by University of Cambridge researchers who had each been working on different aspects of the same problem: how to extract clinically relevant information from sound. CEO Erika Bondareva focused on cardiovascular diagnostics from audio signals, while CTO Kayla-Jade Butkow explored how in-ear microphones could be used to measure vital signs. Together with Professor Cecilia Mascolo, who spent over a decade building the scientific foundation for this field, they formed auryx to bring this technology beyond the lab and into everyday use. Professor Mascolo, Chief Scientific Officer, is a Professor of Mobile Systems at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Erika Bondareva, Co-Founder and CEO, auryx, explained: “We spent years in research proving that sound carries more health information than anyone had thought to listen for. auryx exists because we decided it was time to start doing something with this finding beyond the lab. Now we are putting it to work into devices people already wear, making continuous health monitoring something that just happens, without anyone having to think about it.”
Most consumer health devices rely on optical sensors that use light to detect blood flow beneath the skin; this is an approach that is susceptible to motion artefacts, particularly at the wrist where most wearables sit. The ear, by contrast, is relatively stable during everyday activity, enabling cleaner and more reliable signal capture. And because auryx uses acoustic rather than optical sensing, it can extract a far broader range of physiological signals: not just heart rate, but respiratory rate, cardiac output, blood pressure, and more.
auryx is initially focused on the earbud market, where devices are already worn by hundreds of millions of people, with plans to expand to other microphone-equipped devices and health applications. Because the technology can be enabled on devices people already use every day, it integrates health monitoring seamlessly into existing routines without requiring additional hardware.
The $2M investment will be used to advance hardware integration and model development, deepen commercial partnerships, and accelerate team growth. The company is actively hiring across engineering and commercial roles, targeting individuals interested in building a platform technology designed to scale across billions of devices.
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