Roku has acquired Danish company Dynastrom, a multi-room audio speaker start-up.
In a recent regulatory filing, Roku revealed that on September 6th it acquired a privately held company located in Denmark “to enhance the Company’s player product offering” for $3.5 million in cash. Roku also issued 108,332 shares to two of that company’s founders “as part of a continuing services arrangement.”
Variety linked that to Denmark-based Dynastrom, citing LinkedIn data showing that its CEO and CTO and other Dynastrom employees had recently joined Roku.
Dynastrom has developed AROS, an audio-streaming technology that, the company claims, uses adaptive technology that provides a high quality experience if WiFi conditions are good or bad. It also bills its solution as hardware agnostic, as its system requires only Linux.
Dynastrom’s technology “allows you to create streaming loudspeakers without the tricky and unstable characteristics of today’s systems.”
Roku hasn’t detailed its plans for Dynastrom, but it’s thought the company is looking to increase its activities in the area of voice and is possibly developing a new smart speaker that could compete with products such as Amazon Echo.
