Audinate raises another $4m

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news Australian audiovisual technology startup Audinate has raised another $4 million in funding from existing local investors Starfish Ventures and Innovation Capital.

The company was founded in 2006 as a spin-off from the nation’s flagship ICT research centre National ICT Australia (NICTA) and has quickly attracted a number of customers for its technology, which replaces traditional analogue cabling in large entertainment venues with a flexible digital equivalent based on the TCP/IP protocol on which the internet is based.

Audinate’s solution is dubbed ‘Dante’ and has been picked up by a number of partner manufacturers such as Bosch, Yamaha, Peavey, Dolby and Lab.gruppen.

The two venture capitalists are both headquartered in Australia and have significant funds under management, according to their sites — $400 million at Starfish Ventures and $100 million at Innovation Capital.

Audinate didn’t disclose the total amount invested in its operations so far in a statement issued last week regarding the additional $4 million, but TechCrunch investment tracking site CrunchBase has listed a previous round of $3.71 million in June 2008, involving Innovation, Starfish and the US-based National Insurance Producer Registry.

“Audinate’s management team has consistently delivered on transforming its unique technology into a great global business,” said Starfish investment principal Michael Panaccio in Audinate’s statement.

“We have been extremely impressed with the momentum of adoption among the major OEMs who have committed to implementing Audinate’s solution.” said Innovation Capital general Partner Roger Price.

ZDNet.com.au startup blog bootstrappr gave Audinate a “boom” rating in July 2009, indicating commentator Brad Howarth saw a solid future for the startup. He noted the technology had been used, among other things, for distributing audio at a Star Trek film premier at the Sydney Opera House and for the well-attended events associated with World Youth Day in Sydney last year.