Vesper Wins Innovator of the Year and Ultimate Products at Annual Creativity in Electronics (ACE) Awards

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Dec 12, 2016) - Vesper, developer of the world's most advanced acoustic sensors, won two Annual Creativity in Electronics (ACE) Awards -- Innovator of the Year and Ultimate Products -- at an awards ceremony held on December 7, 2016 at Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley in San Jose, CA.

Recognized as Innovator of the Year for his pioneering work in designing the first piezoelectric microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) microphones, Vesper CTO Bobby Littrell initially conceived of Vesper's VM1000 -- which won the ACE Award for Ultimate Products: Sensors -- while a PhD student at the University of Michigan. Securing several Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants -- from NASA, National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) -- Bobby was able to refine his product design and hire a team of MEMS industry experts to launch Vesper in September 2014.

"MEMS microphones have the potential to make voice a pervasive user interface for the smart speakers, smartphones, wearables/hearables and Internet of Things devices that we use regularly," said Bobby Littrell, CTO and Co-founder, Vesper. "In order to realize this potential, however, we had to make more reliable and resilient MEMS microphones that are better-suited to microphone arrays. We employed a fundamentally new architecture and material to achieve this: piezoelectric MEMS. Our first product, VM1000, was the result. It is waterproof, dustproof, particle-resistant, highly stable and produces well-matched microphone arrays."

"I am thrilled and honored by this tremendous industry honor," added Bobby, "and I feel humbled to have been considered in a group of amazing technologists in the innovator category."

Having recently announced $15M in its Series A funding round, Vesper is well-positioned to launch more broadly to meet customer demand, develop second-generation products, and expand operations and distribution. Accomplice led the round. Vesper also received funding from Amazon's Alexa Fund, AAC Technologies, Hyperplane, Miraenano Tech and other undisclosed investors. See: Vesper Raises $15M Series A to Drive Pervasive Voice Interfaces (December 9, 2016).

About the ACE Awards
The ACE (Annual Creativity in Electronics) Awards, in partnership with EE Times and EDN, highlight the best of the best in today's electronics industry, including the hottest new products, startup companies, design teams, executives and more. ACE celebrates the promise of new talent and innovation, and pays tribute to the lifetime achievement of a top industry veteran whose contributions have had a demonstrable impact on technological, business and cultural advancements in the world.

The ACE Awards event took place December 7, 2016 at the San Jose Convention Center in conjunction with Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) Silicon Valley.

About Vesper
Vesper is a privately held advanced sensor company based in Boston, MA. With origins at the University of Michigan, Vesper microphones are driving a new era of pervasive voice interfaces and acoustic event detection via a proprietary piezoelectric MEMS technology. These products include smartphones, smart cities, smart speakers, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and connected cars. Vesper is funded by Accomplice, Amazon's Alexa Fund, AAC Technologies, Hyperplane, Miraenano Tech, XinGang Electronics and other strategic partners. For more information about Vesper, please contact us via email: info@vespermems.com or web: www.vespermems.com.

The Vesper logo is a registered trademark of Vesper. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.