The Guthman Competition has been called the "Pulitzer Prize" for musical instruments. Every year, creators from all over ...
Problem
The "Talkbox" vocal sound is nearly impossible to create
The talkbox, popularized by Roger Troutman, produces the unmistakable electric vocal sound at the beginning of hits like "California Love" (Tupac & Dr. Dre), "Living on a Prayer" (Bon Jovi), and "24k Magic" (Bruno Mars). Unfortunately, this incredible instrument is even more incredibly difficult to play.
Conventional talkbox with a tube is immobile, inconvenient, and inaccessible to creators. The instrument hasn’t changed much in the past 50 years; and it remains out of reach for most musicians. If an instrument is hard to set up, use, and move around with, most people won’t learn to play it. We needed a better way.
Solution
Introducing ElectroSpit,
the tubeless mobile talkbox
for the future
The iconic talkbox sound—now convenient and wearable in an attractive form factor. With a fully integrated iOS synth app and rechargeable batteries, creators have all they need to let their funk flow anytime, anywhere. Don’t need the synth app? ESX-1 works with your existing setup, no matter what guitar, keyboard, or Digital Audio Workstation you use.
Product
Electrify your voice
with the ESX-1 mobile tubeless talkbox and app
Electrospit ESX-1 has two parts: the wearable & the app.
Each part can be used independently or together—it’s a very modular user experience. Plug the wearable into the synth app to be fully mobile, plug the wearable into a guitar, keyboard, or DAW, or use the app with traditional talkboxes.
Traction
Used on hit songs by Bruno Mars, Big Boi, Dua Lipa, David Guetta, Skrillex, & E-40
Sales are up with 3X YoY growth (Q1/2021) and our videos are going viral with 3.5M organic views!
Our wildly successful 2018 Kickstarter raised 282% of our initial goal within 48 hours. In 2020, our first technology patent was granted. The ElectroSpit ESX-1 is both the 2020 Guthman Award 1st Place AND People’s Choice winner (the top award in our space).
The Electrospit ESX-1 has been featured in the hits "Versace on the Floor" by Bruno Mars and David Guetta, multi-platinum “Levitating” by Dua Lipa and the "Levitating" remix ft Missy Elliot and Madonna, “Drum Machine” by Big Boi and Phantogram ft Skrillex, and more.
Despite the pandemic, we’ve generated over $300K+ in revenue since we began shipping the ElectroSpit ESX-1 in February of 2020!
In 2021, the ElectroSpit ESX-1 sound was used as part of the AMA Awards, as well as in Dua Lipa’s Grammy Awards performance of “Levitating” from her 2021 Grammy-winning album (Best Pop Vocal Album).
In 2021, Stevie Wonder performed wearing the ESX-1 for the Sesame Street 50th Anniversary Special and recorded the Sesame Street Theme Song using the ElectroSpit ESX-1.
Customers
David Guetta, Teddy Riley, Pee Thugg (Chromeo), Jordan Rudess, Mr. Talkbox, & more
David Guetta (DJ Mag World's #1 DJ) demonstrates the ElectroSpit Talkbox
Bastille, Pee Thugg (Chromeo), Chad Hugo (The Neptunes), Mr. Talkbox, Teddy Riley, Jordan Rudess, Mikkel Eriksen, MyGuyMars, Michael Phillips, Swatkins, Magic Girl, Terrace Martin, Cory Henry, Flavio Aster, Yonni, & Asaf Lavie
Diamond Ortiz
Business model
We sell D2C at $599
with a subscription model coming soon
We’re starting strong—demand and interest are already high; we’ve been selling units since our successful 2018 Kickstarter.
The ESX-1 is sold directly by ElectroSpit, with favorable unit economics due to its boutique market. The ESX-2 will be sold through resellers as a premium wearable for the creators and fans who’ve seen and heard their favorite artists using the ESX-1. The third-gen ESX-lite will be a mobile accessory to pick up when buying your next cell phone.
Profit and Revenue as of October 2021
Market
A $16B
music products market
The global musical instrument market was valued at $16B+ in 2019, with conservative estimates of 3.2% CAGR through 2025. Our addressable segment of that market, electromechanical instruments, is worth hundreds of millions per year.
365M people play instruments worldwide, with another 158M who intend to learn. Music making exploded during the pandemic, with over one third of instrumentalists having started learning within the last 12 months. There are 55M people who record or produce music; and electronic music hardware is the largest serviceable obtainable segment of the market.
Competition
Our patented tubeless tech sets us apart from the rest
The ElectroSpit ESX-1 talkbox has few direct competitors—there being no other portable, tubeless talkboxes on the market that we're aware of. Our closest competitors are traditional talkbox speaker units that typically retail for around $200.
We did away with the tube so you don’t have to drool. Our closest competitors, Rocktron and Dunlop, offer traditional talkbox speaker units that typically retail for around the $200 mark. Their talkboxes are essentially the same tech and form factor that has been available for 50 years. ElectroSpit’s tubeless tech and app deliver unmatched ease of use—whereas with traditional tube talkboxes, many players are unable to pronounce words and give up.
Vision and strategy
We're building an AI music creation & performance ecosystem
The money raised here will allow us to design and market the ESX-2 while we manufacture 2000 units of the ESX-1.
Beyond 2021, we’ll see the increased availability of our instruments lead to a diversified revenue stream. The ESX product lines will be followed by a premium content subscription service—a yearly subscription gets our buyers access to exclusive songs and lessons from the founder and other professionals.
From talkbox karaoke for consumers, to mobile instruments and jam session apps for students and gamers, the future is bright.
Funding
Backed by David Guetta, E-40, Just Blaze, ex-Google engineers, and VCs
We started at Zoo Labs, an accelerator founded by an early Google exec and engineer (Vinitha & David Watson). Early product development of the ESX-1 was funded by Exponential Creativity Ventures CEO Adam Huttler and Pee Thugg of Chromeo. Later funds were secured through successful crowdfunding with over 400 backers.
Inspired by their love of the talkbox and ElectroSpit’s vision for its future, superstar artist / producer David Guetta and Just Blaze have recently joined as investors. Stevie Wonder is advising on the next version of the ElectroSpit talkbox. Finally, noted Bay Area rap icon and entrepreneur E-40 has made it his mission to see this Black-owned, Bay Area Music Tech company succeed and has also joined as an investor and advisor.
Join us as we invent the future of musical instrument technology!
Founders
Love and hip-hop,
the first family of the talkbox
Electrospit was co-founded by husband and wife team Bosko and Maya Kante in 2014 at a Zoo Labs Music Technology Residency. Bosco is a mechanical engineer as well as a Grammy-winning musician and producer. Maya is a sales and marketing specialist.
Driven by the need to solve the issues of portability, cost, and learning curve posed by the classic talkbox, they invented the ESX-1 to inspire creators in the fast growing musical instrument market.
Made by Artists for Artists, in Oakland, California.
ElectroSpit's patented tubeless technology was developed by Bosko, one of the world's top talkbox artists (Kanye, Drake, Dua Lipa), and Bosko build the first prototypes by hand.