Biotech start-up HypeSound founded in 2019, specialising in optimising bioproduction processes using low-frequency sound waves.
Its eureka moment came after its founder Pietro Pietro Labruzzo observed during his PhD research that algae thrived and grew faster in areas where waves continuously crashed against the rocks, creating a natural frequency.
Inspired by the process, the company developed a patented technology that applies controlled low-frequency sound waves to microbial cultures (like algae, yeast and bacteria), triggering biological responses that accelerate growth and metabolic activity without relying on chemical inputs or genetic modification.
The approach aims to make bioproduction more efficient, sustainable, and scalable in industries such as food, agriculture, health, and materials science.
A plug-and-play soluton
The company has just closed a €1.2 million pre-seed round led by Eatable Adventures and backed by strategic investors including CDP Venture Capital, Nextup, Vento Ventures, Athena FH, and Ulixes Capital.
This capital will help HypeSound open a new laboratory in Perugia strengthen its presence in the global biotech and agtech sectors, offering companies a plug-and-play, data-driven system to optimise production processes.
It claims this technology, called So’Sweep, accelerates microbial growth by three times, reduces costs by 50% and increases purity levels up to 95%. Using patented algorithms, custom soundwave patterns are tailored to specific microbes, maximising productivity gains.
The company – which has been awarded the European Innovation Council’s Seal of Excellence and successfully completed the first batch of FoodSeed, a food tech accelerator – will focus on optimising industrial bioproduction and validating new categories of microorganisms, expanding its primary focus on microalgae to include yeasts and bacteria.
Controlling microorganisms through acoustic waves
Hypesound is growing specific species of microalgae to support the development of biostimulants in agriculture, a spokesperson told AgTechNavigator.
It all started from a “simple yet revolutionary insight” – sound can amplify and accelerate biological processes where light reaches its limits. Thanks to the new funds, the focus will shift to soil microbiomes. “For example, Hypesound aims to customise bacterial production in a given area to support native species, or even replace traditional fertilisers. This is possible thanks to methanogenic and other types of bacteria capable of directly capturing the elements commonly found in fertilisers.”
