Helios

Have you ever wondered why voice assistants like Alexa and Siri can understand your commands, but not the emotion behind them?

It’s a significant problem — research shows that forty percent of information in a message is in its tone. But at the moment, existing voice technologies can’t capture the emotional part of speech. Simply put, they’re all tone-deaf.

This problem is what Helios aims to change. This company has developed technology that introduces voice and emotion analytics. Using its proprietary software, companies can learn about the emotion in their customers’ voices, enabling them to be better in tune with what they want and need.

Helios co-founder Gerwin Schalk is an expert in neuroanalytics, and a top scientist in the field of brain-computer interface research. He co-founded two previous tech companies and, throughout his career, has been issued multiple patents. Elon Musk even reached out to Schalk for advice on his own neurotechnology company, Neuralink.

CEO Sean Austin, meanwhile, founded his own biometric analysis company at age nineteen. He then joined an audio startup that became the first acquisition of popular streaming service Spotify.

Their focus now is on Artificial Intelligence that analyzes voices and provides unique tonal signatures that identify the emotion of the speaker.

This is a potentially huge opportunity. In the U.S., nearly 130 million people use voice assistants, a prime example of technology that understands commands, but not emotion. According to Verified Market Research, the global market for virtual assistants will surpass fifty billion dollars by 2028.

Helios’ initial focus, however, is on the financial industry. Here are the details:

The company’s flagship product is called Comprehend. It’s a platform that analyzes corporate communications and generates a “tonal fingerprint” of every voice recording.

The first version of this product is called Comprehend: Elite. It’s a financial audio analysis suite for quantitative hedge funds. By analyzing more than one million audio events from corporations, Helios provides unique investment opportunities via the voice tone.

For example, imagine a CEO on a quarterly call with investors. Using Helios’ software, financial analysts can receive insights into the tone of the executive’s comments. Are they speaking with confidence about future growth? Are they hesitant when asked about upcoming issues?

In a case study, an investment portfolio used Elite to guide investment decisions. By analyzing the emotion of calls with executives, the portfolio outperformed the S&P 500 index across large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks.

Helios’ current customers are investment funds with more than $100 billion in assets under management. Potential customers include portfolio managers, corporate investor relations teams, consulting firms, and equity research analysts.

In addition to tapping into tonal analysis, Helios’ technology enables users to access a data feed they can use to incorporate tone into their own products. For example, an automated call center could use Helios to learn when a customer is getting frustrated on the phone.

To generate revenue, Helios offers its technology through subscriptions. The company is on track to bring in about one million dollars in revenue in 2022, and projects to earn five-and-a-half million dollars in 2023.

Team Background

Gerwin Schalk - Co-Founder & Chief Science Officer

Ever since he watched the 1982 movie “Firefox” — a film that featured thought-controlled weapons — Gerwin dreamed of using machines to decode thoughts and human emotion.

Today, he is considered an expert in science and technology, with a focus on neuroanalytics and Artificial Intelligence.

In addition to his role with Helios, Gerwin is co-founder of Neurosolutions, a company focused on brain-based rehabilitation efforts of stroke victims. Previously, he co-founded Neuroanalytics, a company interpreting brain signals to optimize information from focus groups.

Earlier in his career, he co-founded FSSF Software Training, a Europe-based software training company. Throughout his career, Gerwin’s notable accomplishments include:

Conceiving and managing the most widely-used software for brain-computer interface research; recognition as a renowned neuroscientist, with multiple patents and books; inventing and licensing a novel functional mapping procedure that improves brain surgery; and providing counsel to Elon Musk on his business Neuralink.

Gerwin’s work has been featured in outlets such as New York Times Magazine, NPR, CNN, and The Atlantic. Furthermore, he has been highlighted in science-related books such as Al Gore’s “The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change” and “The Body Builders: Inside the Science of the Engineered Human.”

He earned a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Graz University of Technology in Austria, as well as a Master’s degree in Information Technology and a Ph.D. in Computer and Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Sean Austin - Co-Founder & CEO

Sean is a serial entrepreneur, having started his own biometric analysis company at age nineteen.

Most recently, he was Chief Product Officer with aptihealth, a technology company focused on the mental health space. Before that, he was Chief Architect with nfrastructure, an IT services business.

Earlier in his career, he owned Descovery, an advertising company. Prior to that, he spent time as a product manager with multiple companies, including financial services business Klarna, IT services business Fueled, and retail business Kaspien.

Notably, Sean served as Marketing Director with Tunigo, a platform for discovering music that was acquired by Spotify in 2013. This was Spotify’s first acquisition.

Sean earned a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Co-Investors