How Auryx is transforming Everyday Earbuds into Continuous Health Monitors

Auryx, turning ordinary earbuds into health sensors through the power of cutting-edge artificial intelligence, led by Erika Bondareva, Kayla-Jade Butkow, and Cecilia Mascolo, has raised $2M in pre-seed funding to build a platform that turns everyday devices, such as earbuds, into continuous health monitors using sound. The round is led by Celero Ventures, with participation from EWOR, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Vento, PurposeTech, and additional institutional and angel investors.

By analysing acoustic signals from the heart, lungs, and blood flow, the system enables standard microphones in consumer devices to capture physiological data in real time, without requiring additional sensors or changes in user behaviour.

Auryx was founded by University of Cambridge researchers working on extracting clinical insights from sound. CEO Erika Bondareva focused on cardiovascular diagnostics, while CTO Kayla-Jade Butkow worked on in-ear vital sign sensing. They co-founded the company with Cecilia Mascolo to bring the technology from research into real-world use.

“We spent years in research proving that sound carries more health information than previously understood. auryx exists to take that insight beyond the lab and into everyday devices, enabling continuous, passive health monitoring without requiring users to think about it,” said Erika Bondareva.

Most consumer health devices rely on optical sensors that use light to measure blood flow, which are prone to motion artefacts, especially at the wrist, where most wearables are worn.

In contrast, the ear is more stable during daily activity, enabling cleaner and more reliable signal capture. Auryx uses acoustic sensing instead of optical methods, allowing it to extract a broader range of physiological signals, including heart rate, respiratory rate, cardiac output, and blood pressure.

Auryx is initially focused on the earbud market, where devices are already widely adopted, with plans to expand into other microphone-enabled devices and health applications. By working with existing hardware, the technology enables seamless health monitoring without requiring additional sensors or changes to user behaviour.

The $2M investment will support hardware integration, model development, commercial partnerships, and team expansion, as the company scales a platform designed for deployment across billions of devices.

“Auryx stood out for its Cambridge research roots, validated science, and a software-only approach that turns existing microphones in noise-cancelling earbuds into continuous health sensors, requiring no new hardware or behaviour change,” said Nick Cochran of 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,” said Quinten Selhorst, Partner, EWOR. 

“Auryx takes a novel approach to health sensing by using sound to capture physiological signals, opening up a largely unexplored space in consumer devices. This creates significant whitespace and a strong opportunity for the future of health monitoring,” said Mahesh Santiapillai from Cambridge Enterprise Ventures.