Facebook buys Edinburgh-based Two Big Ears

Abesh Thakur (left) and Varun Nair

Facebook has bought Edinburgh-based audio tech firm Two Big Ears for an undisclosed sum.

“Two Big Ears has revolutionized how humans hear sound with software,” said Facebook in a statement.

“We’re excited to welcome them to the Facebook team and give even more people access to their incredible work through our platform.”

Two Big Ears was founded by Abesh Thakur, a former Enterprise Fellow at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and Varun Nair who has worked on hundreds of projects in films, games, music and advertising.

Abesh Thakur wrote on the Two Big Ears blog: “We’re excited to announce that we’re joining Facebook.

“At Two Big Ears, we’ve been hard at work creating technology and tools that have defined how immersive audio is crafted and experienced in VR and AR both now and in the future.

“We’re proud to see the impact our work has had on so many great projects.

“Now, we’re ready to take the next step on our journey and scale our work from within Facebook.

“There is so much still to explore. By joining with a company that shares our values and our vision, we will be able to scale our technology even quicker as we continue powering immersive audio experiences.

“Our mission is to make VR audio succeed across all devices and platforms and continue to help creators make the best experiences for billions of people across the world.

“Starting today, our pipeline for cinematic VR and 360 video, including the authoring tools, encoder and rendering engine are available for freee.

“We’re excited to be able to continue developing great tools for a larger number of people across the world.

“3Dception for Games will no longer be a separate product but we will be working with the Oculus team to combine our expertise and create best in class VR audio.

“Existing Pro customers will continue to receive support in accordance with your current agreement with Two Big Ears for the next 12 months.

“Thank you to our customers, partners and investors, including board members George Elliott and Neil Heywood, the University of Edinburgh, Scottish Enterprise and everybody who has been with us on this amazing journey.

“We look forward to advancing our mission – and continuing our work with you – from Facebook.”