Ovelin Strikes a True Chord
By Jon Callaghan, February 8, 2012
WildChords dazzles us, and we are off to make the world more musical . . .
Today, we are pleased to announce True’s investment in the remarkable Finnish company Ovelin, creators of the guitar instructional iPad app WildChords. If you have not yet seen WildChords or watched someone play it, you are in for an adventure.
WildChords provides a game-centered approach for beginners to learn guitar, combining the accessibility of the iPad platform with the joy, accomplishment, and wonder of learning to play music. In addition to beautiful animation and fun gaming dynamics, WildChords also employs some of the world’s most advanced signal processing technology—the app recognizes what chords the user is playing on a guitar, in real-time, through the iPad’s microphone.
This feature is a brilliant representation of the future of human-computer interface. We like being entertained on our iPads, but what we need is to be engaged, to focus, to learn. While iPads and iPhones have revolutionized the way we share photos, music, and emotion, we have yet to experience this level of engagement when it comes to learning. WildChords is among the new class of emerging iPad apps that show us an entirely new use of this device. As Daniel Kahneman might appreciate, the first wave of iOS apps have catered to “System 1” in our brains (the intuitive, reactive brain). We believe the next wave will engage “System 2” (the thinking brain).
As the iPad platform advances rapidly from a technology standpoint, few apps today robustly utilize more than one or two of the available sensors of the device. WildChords shows us how powerful the addition of one extra sensor (the microphone) can be. While we do not yet fully understand what it means to add additional sensors to the user experience, when you see someone learning with Ovelin, you quickly notice a different level of engagement.
Utilizing technology, however, is only part of what makes a startup successful. I was first introduced to WildChords while in London participating in the U.K. Tech City Entrepreneurs Festival this past November. Ovelin Founders Christoph Thür and Mikko Kaipainen presented at the event, and Chris’s passion, charisma, and grand vision for WildChords were the highlight of my day. By the end of his demo, I had downloaded the app and realized it was special. Later that afternoon, Ovelin won the overall festival competition. I then pinged True Founders Kai Bakman (TinkerCad) and Jyri Engestrom (Ditto), also of Helsinki, who very quickly validated that this team was indeed remarkable. After months of diligence and tremendous user growth (as well as several awards for the app), we are thrilled to close our investment.
Chris and Mikko are precisely the kind of bold and talented entrepreneurs we strive so hard to work with at True. The team’s goal is to build a long-term company that has the vision to make a fundamental human desire (creative expression) more accessible and more powerful. There is no quick-flip mentality within Ovelin. This team is incredibly resourceful, and, if you spend any time with them, you quickly realize why so much of the world has lined up behind them to help.
Like every True investment, WildChords means a lot to us. The talent and vision of the Ovelin team embodies so much of what we believe at True. We aim to make the world a better place for entrepreneurs; Ovelin aims to make the world more musical.