Elias
Elias develops adaptive game audio and music middleware (Elias 4, Elias Studio) used by indie to AAA game studios, composers, and non-gaming media — including Eurovision — to build spatialised, real-time responsive audio via visual scripting without sound banks.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersStockholm, Sweden
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Elias does
Elias (legally House of Elias) is a Stockholm-based, privately-held developer of adaptive game audio and music middleware, founded in 2015 and operating with 1–10 employees. The company sells a software engine and authoring toolset — Elias 4 as the current flagship, alongside the legacy Elias 3, the Elias Studio authoring environment, an Instruments add-on, and Services — designed to let composers, sound designers, and game developers build spatialised, real-time responsive audio without sound banks, using a visual scripting interface that combines playback, flow control, logic, DSP, and game parameters in sample-perfect audio graphs. Since 2018, the product has been expanded from a music-focused tool into a fully spatialised sound engine positioned against Wwise, FMOD, and MetaSound, with native integrations for Unity and Godot, and supported integration pathways for Unreal and custom engines.
Elias monetises through a tiered subscription licensing model (indie-friendly, professional, and enterprise multi-year contracts with on-site support and custom tooling), distributed via a hybrid self-serve plus enterprise field-sales motion; free trials and a direct-download funnel target individual creators and small studios, while larger studios access enterprise sales and bespoke services. Customers include Scandinavian and global game studios such as Arrowhead, Avalanche Studios, Fatshark, Funcom, Hazelight, and Rovio, composers and sound designers on titles including Helldivers, Gauntlet, Miasma Chronicles, Mutant Year Zero, Valheim, and Rage 2, and non-gaming deployments such as the Eurovision Song Contest broadcast. Marketing channels centre on an online manual, video tutorials, a Discord community, newsletter, and an AI-assisted onboarding bot.
The company is led by CEO Staffan Dahl with founders Kristofer Eng (CPO) and Philip Bennefall (Lead Programmer), CTO Andreas Wickman, and Director of Business Development Dale Crowley. Elias has disclosed a single 2017 funding round of approximately $1.22 million from Wellstreet and has not announced subsequent equity capital; ownership, headcount trajectory, revenue, and financial metrics are otherwise undisclosed.
Elias firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Elias
- Legal name
- House of Elias
- Website
- https://eliassoftware.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Elias develops adaptive game audio and music middleware (Elias 4, Elias Studio) used by indie to AAA game studios, composers, and non-gaming media — including Eurovision — to build spatialised, real-time responsive audio via visual scripting without sound banks.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Elias industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Game Audio Middleware
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132), Other Sound Recording Industries (512290)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Audio Middleware (Interactive/Game Audio) (MPAFAFAD)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Creator Tools & Production (Overlays, Alerts, Encoding, Editing, Audio) (MPAFAEAC)
Keywords
Where Elias is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Stockholm
- HQ country
- Sweden
- HQ region
- Europe
Markets served
Elias business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Software Licensing: Tiered licensing model from indie-friendly to enterprise-level, with flexible pricing depending on studio size and project scope. Free trials available.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Indie/Individual Tier |
| Subscription | Annual | Professional Tier |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Enterprise Tier |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels4 records
Elias product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Elias sells an adaptive game audio and music middleware engine (Elias 4) that lets game developers, composers and sound designers build fully spatialized, dynamic audio for games and other interactive media. The product combines visual scripting, real-time design without sound banks, and adaptive music capabilities, and is offered via tiered software subscriptions with enterprise-level support, custom tooling, and on-site services.
Product overview
Elias is a game audio and music middleware company offering a unified product portfolio centered around Elias 4 as the core flagship product, supported by the legacy Elias 3 for existing users. The ecosystem includes Elias Studio as the primary authoring tool for composers and sound designers, along with Instruments and Services as add-on modules. All products support multiple game engines and platforms with real-time adaptive audio capabilities.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Elias 4: Complete adaptive game audio and music middleware engine with visual scripting, real-time design capabilities, and support for all game engines and platforms.
- Elias Studio
Products and services
- Elias 4 Flagship adaptive game audio and music middleware engine for game studios, composers, and sound designers. Provides fully spatialized audio, visual scripting for sample-perfect audio graphs, real-time design without sound banks, and adaptive music with segments, transitions, loops and stingers. Supports Unity and Godot out of the box and can integrate with Unreal or custom engines.
- Elias 3 Legacy version of the Elias adaptive game audio middleware, maintained and available for existing users migrating to Elias 4.
- Elias Studio Authoring tool with a composer-friendly visual scripting interface for designing adaptive music and audio graphs in real time, aimed at composers and sound designers who are not programmers.
- Instruments Additional instruments and audio tools offered as part of the Elias product suite to extend adaptive audio design capabilities.
- Elias Services Paid support and professional services package including enterprise-level help with custom tooling, email support, video calls, shared Discord server access, and on-site visits for studios requiring hands-on assistance.
Companies that use Elias
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Elias technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
Feature6 records
Elias partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- UnitycoreOut-of-the-box integration provided for Unity game engine. Plugin available for quick setup with Unity projects.
- GodotcoreOut-of-the-box integration provided for Godot game engine as an alternative to Unity.
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Elias competitors and assessment
Company assessmentOthers
- Avid (Pro Tools): Pro Tools is the dominant DAW used by the same composers and sound designers that Elias targets. While not a direct middleware competitor, Avid sits upstream in the audio production pipeline and represents an adjacent tool the same personas rely on.
- Ableton: Ableton Live is a leading DAW among composers creating adaptive game music. Comparable through the persona overlap (composers designing interactive scores) and through Ableton's Link technology, which explores real-time collaborative audio workflows adjacent to Elias's real-time design capability.
- Crosby Studios / Soundsnap-style SFX libraries: Audio asset and SFX libraries serve adjacent workflows for game audio teams. They are complementary rather than competitive, but represent the broader ecosystem Elias's customers navigate when sourcing game audio assets.
Emerging players
- Steam Audio (Valve): Valve's open-source spatial audio solution for games and VR. Comparable to Elias on spatialization and VR/3D audio use cases, though narrower in scope (no adaptive music system). Represents a free alternative that could pressure Elias's indie pricing.
- Resonance Audio (Google): Google's open-source spatial audio SDK for games and VR. Comparable to Elias on the spatialization dimension for indie and VR studios; narrower feature set but free, making it a budget alternative for spatialized-only use cases.
Broad incumbents
- Unity Technologies: Unity is a primary integration partner for Elias but also competes indirectly via its built-in audio engine and asset store middleware. Comparable as the leading game engine whose ecosystem Elias plugs into, and a potential acquirer of audio middleware assets.
- Epic Games (MetaSounds): Epic Games bundles MetaSounds as the audio system inside Unreal Engine. While not a standalone middleware vendor, MetaSounds is a free, deeply integrated alternative for the large share of studios building on Unreal — directly competing with Elias for AAA adaptive music workflows.
- Apple (Apple Vision Pro spatial audio): Apple's platform-level spatial audio capabilities for visionOS, iOS, and Mac compete for the same immersive-audio use cases as Elias's fully spatialized engine — particularly in VR/AR and installation contexts where Elias already has traction.
Direct peers
- Firelight Technologies (FMOD): Developer of FMOD, an interactive audio middleware widely used in games and interactive media. Direct competitor to Elias 4 across adaptive music, spatialized audio, and engine integration. FMOD's indie-friendly positioning makes it especially comparable on the lower end of Elias's customer base.
- Audiokinetic: Maker of Wwise, the dominant interactive audio middleware for games and VR. Directly comparable to Elias 4 — same category, same target customers (game studios, audio teams), similar use cases (adaptive music, spatialized audio). Audiokinetic is the market leader that Elias explicitly competes against.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Elias social profiles
Digital presenceElias financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Elias leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Elias funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Elias M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Elias
What does Elias do?
Elias sells an adaptive game audio and music middleware engine (Elias 4) that lets game developers, composers and sound designers build fully spatialized, dynamic audio for games and other interactive media. The product combines visual scripting, real-time design without sound banks, and adaptive music capabilities, and is offered via tiered software subscriptions with enterprise-level support, custom tooling, and on-site services.
Is Elias a public or private company?
Elias is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Elias founded?
Elias was founded in 2015. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Elias based?
Elias is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, in the Europe region.
How does Elias make money?
One revenue line is on record: software Licensing.
Who are Elias's main competitors?
Others on record are Avid (Pro Tools), Ableton and Crosby Studios / Soundsnap-style SFX libraries. Emerging players are Steam Audio (Valve) and Resonance Audio (Google). Broad incumbents are Unity Technologies, Epic Games (MetaSounds) and Apple (Apple Vision Pro spatial audio). Direct peers are Firelight Technologies (FMOD) and Audiokinetic.
Does Elias have an API?
Yes. Extensive APIs for building custom tools and workflows. The product offers source code access and a Python wrapper for custom tooling and workflow automation. Developer documentation is at manual.elias.audio.
What industry is Elias in?
Elias's product category is Game Audio Middleware. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAFAFAD, Audio Middleware (Interactive/Game Audio), with a secondary code of MPAFAEAC, Creator Tools & Production (Overlays, Alerts, Encoding, Editing, Audio). Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7370.