January 10, 2018
South Bend, IND. – RESONADO, a South Bend company founded by four University of Notre Dame students, has been awarded an Elevate Ventures High Potential Startup Grant (HPSG). RESONADO, formerly known as Flato, is a consumer electronics company specializing in an innovative speaker technology.
With the connection to Notre Dame, the student-ran company was able to utilize resources at the IDEA Center, and became an official IDEA Center startup. The center is Notre Dame’s collaborative innovation hub dedicated to expanding the technological and societal impact of the University’s innovations. It is open to any University researcher and student with an idea they want to commercialize. RESONADO Co-founders Brian Cho and Peter Moeckel said the IDEA Center and Student Entrepreneurship program connected them to a variety of resources and mentors. This included meeting the Elevate Ventures Entrepreneurial Engagement Director of North Central Indiana, Gavin Ferlic.
“RESONADO has incredible technology and a talented, well-rounded team,” said Ferlic. “We are excited to provide support and look forward to many great things for this company in the future.”
RESONADO’s new speaker technology adopts a higher-quality and cost-efficient structure than previous technologies. Traditionally, speakers have been a cone-shaped design. RESONADO aims to completely revolutionize the audio industry with a groundbreaking design that enables speakers to be lighter, thinner and produce higher quality sound through their patented “Flat Magnetic Speaker Technology.” Currently, RESONADO is in the process of launching its first product, a credit card-sized Bluetooth speaker named “Mini-O.”
Despite its cutting-edge technology, RESONADO had been bootstrapping for several months until it gained momentum with Elevate Ventures’ HPSG funding. This HPSG helped RESONADO connect with numerous influential individuals and experts in different fields.
“RESONADO wouldn’t be here today without the HPSG from Elevate Ventures and Startup South Bend-Elkhart. They recognized our potential and helped us when we needed it most,” said Cho. “RESONADO’s success goes nowhere without crediting the region and their partnership with Elevate.” – RESONADO Co-founder Brian Cho
Through a partnership with Startup South Bend-Elkhart, Elevate Ventures provides HPSGs to help entrepreneurs overcome hurdles to attain a specific measurable milestone. This pre-seed program awards up to $25,000 to high-potential startups in regions where communities have invested in entrepreneurism.
RESONADO is the sole partner of HMLink, a small Korean startup founded by a group of former LG engineers. Additionally, RESONADO is currently fulfilling its Kickstarter order through which it raised over $15,000 and is preparing for a new product launch. The startup hopes to accomplish its sales target by 2018 3Q and start raising Series-A funding.
Accredited investors are welcome to listen to RESONADO pitch on Jan. 18 at Investor Connect: An Investor Networking Opportunity in South Bend-Elkhart.
About RESONADO
RESONADO is a student-found consumer electronic/technology firm specializing in an innovative speaker technology. RESONADO was founded by four University of Notre Dame undergraduates who were intrigued by Flat Magnetic Speaker technology which was gaining popularity in the Asian market. They founded RESONADO to bring this ground-breaking technology to the U.S. market. Learn more about RESONADO at RESONADO.com.
About Elevate Ventures
Elevate Ventures is a private venture development organization that nurtures and develops emerging and existing high-potential businesses into high-performing, Indiana-based companies. Elevate Ventures accomplishes this by providing access to capital, rigorous business analysis and robust advisory services that connect companies with the right mix of resources businesses need to succeed long term. To learn more about Elevate Ventures, visit elevateventures.com.
