Commercial radio stole our airwaves

In 1996, Broadcast Radio was deregulated and big corporations began monopolizing the public's airwaves. For the first time nationally, Radio no longer answered directly to its listeners–it answered to the stock market. This drove out variety, live radio shows, local programming, innovation, and replaced it with syndication and a national homogenization of the airwaves in an effort to drive down employee headcounts and increase profits. 

The emergence of streaming music and growth of podcasting can be attributed to this, as artists and thought leaders were being locked out of the DJ booth and kept away from the microphone. But, these innovations still fell short of having access to the airwaves.

Find Voices. Be Heard. Make Hay.

Inspired by President Obama's Farewell Address and the bubble-centric nature of social media algorithms, we created nēdl in 2017 to democratize access to information and the microphone itself. 

nēdl is a live audio discovery and creation app. With the tap of a button, any nēdl user can start their own live call-in radio show in seconds that transcribes, amplifies, and monetizes their words as they speak. Our AI-powered search engine finds live audio (user-generated content) by the very words being spoken in real-time.

Be Heard

nēdl users can share their custom web link such that anybody with the web can access their live stream – without ever downloading the app. Followers can even subscribe to get live text alerts whenever the user opens their mic – without ever downloading the app (we repeated that to make sure you got it!). :)

Since 2017, nēdl has been expanding accessibility to audio by transcribing live audio in real-time.  Now, everybody is invited to the audio revolution.

Part of inaugural cohort of Google's Voice AI Accelerator

Although our new beta app was released in December 2020 for iOS and April 2021 for Android, we've already received significant press attention from major media outlets such as Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine.

nēdl is also one of only 12 startups to participate in Google's inaugural Voice AI Accelerator. We were named as one of Built in LA's 2020 "Top 50 Startups to Watch" and a winner of Pepperdine University's 2018 Most Fundable Companies contest (out of 2,500 startups). Kevin Mayer, the former TikTok CEO and Disney exec, also recently joined our Advisory Board; Google's Director of Research (the author of the definitive book on AI, Artificial Intelligence A Modern Approach) Peter Norvig is also advising us.

Additionally, nēdl received a U.S. patent for the real-time keyword search of live audio streams in November 2020. In May 2021, our patent was allowed in Korea, making us (to our knowledge) the only company in the world who can find live content on TV, Radio, live audio streams and on social media by the words being said in real-time.

Voices and Listeners

Radio has many use cases and users. We're focused on creating the best in class tools for broadcasters, podcasters, influencers, and new creators. By creating ways for Voices to be heard, even without our app, nēdl will become the preferred place to create the best live audio on the planet.

Focused on supporting Voices

Creators and monetization are not an afterthought for nēdl. We've had monetization for broadcasters at our core from the beginning. Creators on nēdl can make Hay (1 Hay = $1) in three ways: tips, ticketed events, and comments. 

Core to this principle of Voice-First, is that a Voice never has to 'ask for money.'  So, let's go make some Hay!

$44.1B global radio market

What the audio revolution represents is a referendum on how Radio has been run in the U.S. over the last 25 years. Radio no longer plays a prominent role in our culture. As a result, it has left a huge void; but even as Radio in the U.S. sagged to $17B in 2017, it remains a $44.1B global behemoth. 

nēdl makes it possible for On-air talent, Podcasters who once wished to have their own live radio show, and broadcasting beginners to have a 50,000 Watt programmable live broadcast radio station in their pockets. We expect to garner 5% of the Global Radio Market revenue in the next 10 years. 

nēdl: audio for everybody

We started nēdl in 2017 (we know, right?) and today there are several new entrants in our market: Slack, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter Spaces, Discord, and Clubhouse. However, nēdl is not in direct competition with Clubhouse. Their success has actually paved the way for nēdl's success.

The last 12 months have taught the world the following about Live Audio, and what is required to make it work (for everyone) at scale:
- Real-time Moderation (Hate Speech and harassment)
- Discovery for live speech
- Control of the microphone
- Accessibility
- Monetization from the start
- Web Access to live streams without an app
- Ownership that is as diverse as the users

We know the market and to our knowledge, don't know any one company that checks all of these boxes like nēdl.

Democratize access to the microphone

nēdl is democratizing access to information and the microphone itself. Our patent and technology evens the playing field for anybody to be discovered. Short term, we'll reach a tipping point of broadcasters and become the premiere platform for audio creation and discovery. Long-term, we'll grab 5% of the global radio market by providing a superior platform for broadcasters to find an audience and be heard.

$1.6M raised to date

nēdl has raised $1M from Sweet Capital (Candy Crush Saga Fund), as well as additional funding from Backstage Capital, Quake Capital, Hatcher, Ken Hertz, Liz Heller, Rudy Gadre, and Unicorn Ventures.

Creator of iHeartRadio's original app

No stranger to the industry, nēdl is Ayinde's third live broadcast radio streaming venture. Most notably, his previous startup Thumb Radio became iHeartRadio's original mobile app. 

Prior to that, Ayinde served as a Speechwriter, Staffer, and Advisor to Barack Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign.