Auryx, a Cambridge-based AI health technology company founded by an all-female team of scientists and engineers, has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding to build a platform that turns everyday consumer devices such as earbuds into continuous health monitors using sound. The round was led by Celero Ventures, with participation from EWOR, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Vento, PurposeTech, and a syndicate of institutional and angel investors.
The company was founded by researchers from the University of Cambridge who spent years working at the intersection of machine learning and audio diagnostics. CEO Erika Bondareva focused her research 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, Chief Scientific Officer and a Professor of Mobile Systems at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, they formed Auryx to bring more than a decade of foundational research out of the lab and into everyday use.
The platform analyzes acoustic signals from the heart, lungs, and blood flow using the existing microphones embedded in consumer hardware, without requiring additional sensors or changes in user behavior. Most consumer health devices today rely on optical sensors that use light to detect blood flow beneath the skin, an approach susceptible to motion artifacts, particularly at the wrist. The ear is comparatively stable during everyday activities, enabling cleaner, more reliable signal capture. Because Auryx uses acoustic rather than optical sensing, it can extract a broader range of physiological signals, including 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 globally, with plans to expand to other microphone-equipped devices and health applications. The $2 million will support hardware integration, model development, commercial partnerships, and team growth across engineering and commercial roles.
KEY QUOTES:
“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.”
Erika Bondareva, CEO and Co-Founder, Auryx
“Auryx caught our attention immediately: Cambridge research, proven science, and a software-only approach that turns the microphones already inside noise-cancelling earbuds into continuous health sensors. No new hardware. No behaviour change. Just a fundamentally smarter use of devices hundreds of millions of people already wear.”
Nick Cochran, General Partner and Co-Founder, Celero Ventures
“Erika stood out to us early through true out of distribution achievement in her career and deep sector insight. Over time, what became even more evident is her unique blend of raw horsepower and emotional intelligence. If anyone can bring this new category of technology to market and scale it, it’s Erika and her team.”
Quinten Selhorst, Partner, EWOR
“Auryx takes a novel approach to health sensing, using sound to capture physiological signals in a space that remains largely unexplored in consumer devices. This creates significant whitespace and is a real opportunity for the future of health monitoring.”
Mahesh Shankar Santiapillai, Investment Manager, Cambridge Enterprise
