ByteDance Completes Acquisition of Oladance
ByteDance has recently completed the acquisition of Oladance, with existing shareholders including BA Capital and Lanchivc having exited.
Back in May of this year, reports emerged that ByteDance had completed its acquisition of Oladance, with the acquisition price ranging between 300 million to 500 million yuan, and a team had been dispatched to the company.
Oladance is an open headphone brand established in 2021, co-founded by former Bose executive Li Haoqian and several Bose engineers. Oladance was the first globally to introduce OWS (OpenWearableStereo) patented technology and launched its fully open OWS series headphones in 2021. With features such as a weightless wearing experience, non-in-ear design, sound quality comparable to that of audio equipment, and ultra-long battery life, it quickly established a foothold in overseas markets and was recognized as Amazon’s Innovative Brand of the Year in 2022.
IDC data shows that in the first half of 2024, the shipment volume of the Bluetooth headphone market in China reached 55.4 million units, a year-on-year increase of 20.8%. Among them, the open-ear headphone market saw strong growth, with shipments of 11.84 million units in the first half of 2024, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 303.6%.
An IDC analyst pointed out that the overall shipment volume of the Bluetooth headphone market will continue to maintain slow growth in the future, and the growth rate of open-ear headphones will gradually stabilize after passing the window period in 2024.
Various signs indicate that ByteDance’s acquisition is mainly aimed at laying out its AI service ecosystem.
Previously, iFlybuds, a company incubated by iFlytek, launched several AI headphones, which is a typical example in the industry. With the help of large AI models, these headphone products can achieve real-time transcription of dialogue audio and simultaneous translation, among other functions.
Therefore, many believe that, similar to the purpose of acquiring PICO, ByteDance’s acquisition of Oladance brings in a team of experienced former Bose engineers, which also compensates for its shortcomings in audio technology.
Due to the design of open-ear headphones, which can accommodate larger batteries and more sensors, they offer more possibilities than in-ear headphones. Oladance’s OWS technology is essential for VR/AR devices and can further enhance the audio experience of the devices.
This means that ByteDance can also intensify its investment in the AI wearable device market, deeply explore the field of AI hardware, and further complete the AI ecosystem.
SEE ALSO: The News Says that ByteDance Acquires the Audio Brand Oladance
