Hello there,

Today’s startup wants to make venues and workspaces treat the problem of noise seriously. And maybe they should take notice; Mumbli says it has noticed a negative correlation between noise and revenue.

Scroll down to read more. As ever, PreSeed Now members get the full story and there’s a free trial if you want to see what the fuss is about.

As you might expect, I get sent a lot of pitch decks, and they’re often useful sources of information. But they usually don’t ‘click’ with me until I’ve talked to the founder directly and heard from them first-hand what they’re building.

Dan Simmons recently sent me this article he wrote, asking whether a deck is still the best way to kick off a path to investment. Is it time for a fresh approach? Incidentally, Dan has interviewed me for his FounderTech Decoded podcast. We dug further into the whole investor-founder communication issue in some detail, and it’s worth a listen.

And I’m always looking for great early-stage startups from across the UK to cover here at PreSeed Now. Drop me a line with any suggestions.

— Martin

💸 Recently raised

A look at a recently-completed pre-seed deal.

Hiphops has closed a $650,000 pre-seed round at a $3.5m valuation, co-led by Seedcamp and firstminute Capital, with participation from angels including Matt Robinson and Will Neale.

The London-based startup provides tools to take care of the admin that developers have to deal with when releasing code, so they can focus on building rather than form-filling and processes.

Mumbli is embracing noise cancellation culture

There are 11 million people in the UK alone with hearing loss. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of the people who struggle in high-noise situations.

In fact, the World Health Organization said in 2018 that it had “strong evidence that noise is one of the top environmental hazards to both physical and mental health and well-being in the European region”.

If you’re not affected, you might be sympathetic but also wonder why it matters to you. But noisy environments are not only a challenge to a sizeable percentage of the population, they can have a wider impact on business for places like venues and workspaces. 

That’s where Mumbli comes in. This London-based startup has developed hardware that can monitor audio levels in a space, and software to inform operators when things are starting to get unpleasant and help them take action.

“We’re using sound to nurture productivity and wellness in social spaces,” explains founder and CEO Marion Marincat.

Marincat suffered sudden and unexplained hearing loss in his mid-20s, losing 80% of his hearing. “That completely changed my social life,” he says. “It changed the way I interacted with people in social spaces.