Meet Brandenburg Labs, Winner of Startups of The Year 2024 in Thuringia, Germany

The special Startups of The Year 2024 Winners Interview series is a celebration of all this year’s Tech Champions. You’ve earned it! The HackerNoon community can’t wait to learn more about your journey!

Tell us about you.

At Brandenburg Labs, our mission is to bridge the gap between the digital and the real world by unlocking the full potential of human hearing through immersive audio. We create audio experiences for headphones that are as intuitive and natural as real life, enabling users to dive deep into any soundscape.

Founded in 2019 in Ilmenau, Germany, we’re built on the groundbreaking legacy of our founder, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Karlheinz Brandenburg, widely known as the ‘father of MP3’. As a spin-off from Technische Universität Ilmenau and the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology, our work stands on over 45 years of world-class audio research.

Our interdisciplinary team of 22 professionals has developed a headphone system that’s already impressed over 1,000 audio experts at global conferences and conventions. Our first product, Okeanos Pro, is now being used in sound studios, research labs, and educational institutions. The system enables realistic multi-channel sound experiences over headphones, eliminating the need for traditional speaker setups while preserving spatial precision. Learn more about Okeanos Pro here. okeanos-pro/

Looking ahead to shaping the future of audio technology, our next goal is to develop the next-generation headphones for the mass market, set to revolutionize all forms of digital media, including music,[Ga1]  AR/VR, teleconferencing, etc. These immersive headphones will become the preferred device for any multimedia experience that benefits from headphone use.

Tell us how your startup is changing the world.

We’re redefining what’s possible with spatial audio, not just making it sound “good,” but making it feel real. Our technology enables professionals and creatives to mix, create, and explore sound with greater freedom and accuracy. In the long run, we want to make spatial sound experiences accessible to everyone, so people can connect more deeply with music, media, and each other.

What sets you apart from the competition?

We managed to do spatial audio via headphones to a previously unattainable level of perfection. All listeners of our system say that our headphones are the only ones with which they have had a truly genuine listening experience. So far, no other player has managed to reproduce the sound playback via headphones indistinguishably from playback via loudspeakers.

What does it mean for you to win this title?

Winning the title of Startup of the Year for Thuringia is both an honor and a powerful affirmation of our vision. For our team, it validates years of deep technological innovation, collaborative research, and commitment to shaping the future of audio. Being recognized on a platform like HackerNoon, by a global tech-driven community, means that our work resonates beyond borders.

But this recognition also holds greater significance for our home region of Thuringia. It highlights the incredible potential of the region’s startup ecosystem, academic institutions, and research-driven innovation. As a spin-off from Technische Universität Ilmenau and Fraunhofer IDMT, we are proud to contribute to the region’s growing reputation as a hub for high-tech development and audio excellence. We hope this milestone inspires more founders, researchers, and creatives in Thuringia to pursue ambitious ideas, and to know that global impact can start from right here.

What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to set out for this mission?

At Brandenburg Labs, our diverse and interdisciplinary team is the heart of everything we do. With 22 dedicated professionals spanning audio engineering, software development, product design, research, marketing, and communications, we bring a rich mix of expertise and perspectives to the table. What unites us is a shared passion for audio and an ambition to make a meaningful impact in the world. We believe that innovation happens at the intersection of disciplines. That’s why our team thrives on collaboration, challenging ideas, refining solutions, and pushing boundaries together. Whether it’s research and development or communicating our vision to the world, every team member plays a critical role in advancing our mission.

Looking back, what milestone was the biggest turning point for your startup?

The launch of Okeanos Pro, our first product, in 2024 stands as the most pivotal milestone in our journey. After over 15 years of foundational research at Technische Universität Ilmenau and more than four years of dedicated development at Brandenburg Labs, we transitioned from concept to reality. It marked our transition from research and prototypes into a real-world product used by professionals, opening the door for partnerships and a clearer roadmap for the future.

What’s one valuable lesson you learned this year that you’d pass on to other startups?

Audio is no longer a background experience, it’s becoming spatial, interactive, and central to immersive digital environments like AR/VR and gaming. The tools are evolving from passive playback to intelligent systems that adapt to context, space, and intention. We’re ahead of the curve because we’re not just building products, we’re building foundational technology that can scale across use cases and industries. We’re working toward making immersive audio a new standard, not just a feature.

How do you envision your industry evolving in the coming years, and how will your startup stay ahead?

With the rise of AR/VR, remote collaboration, and AI-powered content creation, immersive audio will become a necessity rather than a luxury. Brandenburg Labs is positioned to lead this evolution, not just by developing tools, but by shaping new standards for audio perception.

How do you or your company intend to embrace the responsibility of this title in 2025?

In 2025, we will proudly continue to represent Thuringia and Germany on the global tech stage, not just through innovation, but by fostering meaningful collaborations and sharing our expertise and innovative vision. We also see it as our duty to inspire and mentor the next generation of innovators, both within our region and across the broader tech community.

What goals are you looking forward to accomplishing in 2025?

In 2025, we aim to:

·         Expand our reach to international educational and creative institutions.​

·         Strengthen strategic partnerships across technology, academia, and media sectors.​

·         In the long run, launch our consumer product, PARty (Personalized Auditory Reality), an intelligent wearable designed to create personalized auditory experiences.​

PARty offers users the ability to focus on specific sounds, reduce background noise, and experience virtual sound sources naturally placed in their environment. This innovation aims to make immersive audio accessible to a broader audience, enhancing experiences in various settings, from everyday environments to specialized applications.  By achieving these goals, we strive to bridge the gap between digital and real-world audio experiences.

2024 has been crazy, with all the new techs, and all the geopolitics fluctuations. What are the impacts of these to your startup, and to your industry as a whole? Be as brief or as detailed as you like.

Large language models and augmented reality are the big revolutionizing trends which will trigger upheavals in the next years. These trends go hand in hand with our technological development. For example, our solution for spatial sound over headphones opens the door for AR applications that allows the user to interact on a non-visual channel, while still conveying rich information and allowing interactivity.

We would love your feedback on HackerNoon as a tech publication! How has your experience been with us?

We truly enjoyed the experience. HackerNoon provided us with a platform that not only celebrates innovation but also helps us reach a broader public. It’s been a valuable opportunity to share our story, connect with like-minded innovators, and gain visibility within an engaged global audience. We thank HackerNoon for offering us this wonderful opportunity.

Any words of wisdom you’d like to share with us?

What seems impossible today will be reality tomorrow, if you don’t give up.