Applied Brain Research Secures Seed Funding to Scale Ultra-Low Power Voice AI Chips

Applied Brain Research (ABR) has successfully closed an oversubscribed seed funding round to accelerate the production of its specialized voice AI chip. The investment, led by Two Small Fish Ventures, will fund the market entry of the TSP1 state space accelerator, a processor designed to handle complex AI tasks directly on edge devices. This funding marks an important transition for the Waterloo based startup as it moves from research and development into a full-scale semiconductor provider.

The company's core technology, the TSP1 chip, is a dedicated hardware solution built specifically for time-series processing at the edge. By utilizing a power-efficient architecture, the chip enables on-device automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech at under 30 milliwatts. This level of efficiency is roughly 10 to 100 times better than traditional alternatives, allowing devices like smart glasses or medical sensors to process voice and data without needing a cloud connection.

ABR distinguishes itself by using patented State Space Models and Legendre Memory Units instead of the power-hungry architectures used by large-scale AI. These models allow a device to remember and process long sequences of information with minimal memory requirements. Because the processing happens locally, the technology eliminates the latency, high operating costs, and privacy concerns that typically plague cloud-based AI solutions.

In the near future, consumers and industrial partners can expect to see ABR technology integrated into a wide variety of hardware. According to the company official announcement, the startup is currently collaborating with manufacturers in the augmented reality, robotics, and automotive sectors. These applications will range from zero-delay robot command processing to in-vehicle voice assistants that function perfectly even when network connectivity is lost. The addition of Eva Lau to the ABR board brings deep expertise in scaling technology startups to the leadership team. Led by CEO Kevin Conley, who brings decades of experience from SanDisk and Everspin, ABR is positioning itself to lead the embedded AI market. This strategic shift ensures that their efficient neuromorphic designs can be manufactured at the scale required for global consumer electronics and medical device sectors. Additional details on their specialized hardware can be found at appliedbrainresearch.com.