Wearables company Bragi sold its products business, in order to focus its work on software, AI and IP licensing.

In a statement, Bragi said it launched its “wireless intelligent earphones” – called The Dash – in 2016, running software “designed much like a smartphone, running updatable apps including feature and functionality upgrades”.

It said customers received 12 software updates delivering support for Amazon Alexa, language translation and sound personalisation, along with “ultra-efficient AI that enables users to pick up a call by nodding; and auto-track swimming, running and biking activities using embedded sensors”.

Bragi sold the products business to an unnamed third party to focus on scaling its software and AI technology, where it said it has invested more than $40 million to date.

The company also said it has partnered with Asia Universal Technology, which is in-turn a partner of MediaTek subsidiary Airoha, in a deal it said will scale Bragi’s software and AI to “tens of millions” of headphones and speakers in the coming years.

At MWC19 Barcelona, Bragi touted its suite of technology for “hearables”, including sensor-rich hardware platform designed for low-powered devices; a proprietary, hardware-agnostic and modular OS; and machine learning software.

Nikolaj Hviid, founder and CEO of Bragi, said: “The success of voice assistants show that headphones and speakers are evolving from basic rendering devices to interaction devices. Soon customers can choose their favourite brand, applications and services independently of each other.”