Indy Audio Labs secures $600,000 in funding, sets headquarters at Purdue Research Park of Indianapolis
March 2, 2011
INDIANAPOLIS - A company that develops, manufactures and markets high-performance in-home audio/video electronics and software has garnered funding, begun hiring new employees and moved into new headquarters at the Purdue Research Park of Indianapolis.
Indy Audio Labs LLC, founded in 2008 by Rick Santiago and Ted Moore, completed its initial round of funding through two independent Sellersburg, Ind., investors. The company raised $600,000 to fund initial operations and ramp up production in 2011.
"The funding enables us to hire people, utilize local engineering capabilities and initiate the manufacturing required to deliver on our customer POs in the second quarter," said Santiago, the firm's CEO. "Our 2011 goals are designed to drive subsequent growth in sales sufficient to propel us from an early-stage startup to a global player in high-performance personal home entertainment systems."
Moore, the company's COO, said Indy Audio Labs already has a global presence.
"We are recognized globally due to the established awareness of our Aragon and Acurus brands," he said. "We have customers from China and several other countries who are hungry for quality American brands. Based on the demand we're experiencing, we expect a large part of our revenue will come from exporting Indiana-manufactured, high-technology products to our overseas customers."
Santiago and Moore moved the company's headquarters to the Purdue Research Park of Indianapolis, which can accommodate the wide variety of work being done at Indy Audio Labs.
"Our new headquarters will be equipped with multiple electronics labs, office space and administration space, as well as the shared infrastructure provided by the Park," he said. "We will be doing software engineering, electronics hardware design and mechanical design as well as customer service, program management, operations and administration all under one roof."
Indy Audio Labs recently hired two technology directors. Santiago said they have years of experience in the consumer electronics industry and are graduates of Purdue University's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
"They will lead the technical development and production of our first generation of products on our two brand platforms, Aragon and Acurus," Santiago said. "Not only will we be able to deliver on our new product roadmap, but we'll also have the resources required to stake our claim in the highly competitive, constantly changing digital media landscape in the home."
Santiago said Indy Audio Labs' growth benefits the state's economy.
"Our biggest job creation impact is at our suppliers in Indiana, where our projected workload already has contributed to additional hires in manufacturing," he said. "We will help keep high-tech jobs in Indiana through applying today's technologies in our initial area of focus that is the highly competitive consumer electronics industry."
About Indy Audio Labs LLC
Indy Audio Labs was founded in late 2008 with the goal to build the best future-ready audio/video rendering electronics for listening rooms and home theaters. Indy Audio Labs designs and builds products for which ease of operation is surpassed only by performance and reliability. Design work, manufacturing and much of the company's material sourcing is performed in the United States.
About Purdue Research Park
The Purdue Research Park, with four locations across Indiana, has the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. The parks are home to about 200 companies that employ 4,000 people and are located in West Lafayette, Indianapolis, Merrillville and New Albany.
Purdue Research Park contact:
Steve Martin, 765-588-3342, sgmartin@prf.org
Sources:
Ted Moore, 317-542-3097, ted.moore@indyaudiolabs.com
Rick Santiago, 317-542-3146, rick.santiago@indyaudiolabs.com
