Wildlife Acoustics
Wildlife Acoustics designs and sells bioacoustics monitoring hardware (Song Meter and Echo Meter recorders) and Kaleidoscope Pro analysis software to biologists, researchers, and government agencies worldwide for wildlife species inventory, presence/absence surveys, and habitat health monitoring.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2003
- HeadquartersMaynard, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Wildlife Acoustics does
Wildlife Acoustics, Inc. is a US-based (Maynard, Massachusetts) bioacoustics monitoring technology company founded in 2003 by Ian Agranat. It designs, manufactures, and sells hardware recorders and analytical software used by biologists, researchers, and government agencies to capture and classify wildlife vocalizations — primarily for species inventory, presence/absence surveys, endangered species detection, and habitat health monitoring. The product portfolio centers on the Song Meter recorder line (spanning SM1 through the 2025-launched SM5 family, including bat-specific ultrasonic variants such as SM4BAT and SM5BAT), the Echo Meter Touch 2/Pro smartphone-connected ultrasonic detectors for bat echolocation, and Kaleidoscope Pro desktop software for automated species classification and audio analysis. Underlying technology is grounded in a 14+ patent portfolio covering acoustic enclosures, ultrasonic microphone design, zero-crossing analysis, and digital sampling methods, with supporting proprietary file formats (WAC) and utility software (Wac2Wav, Song Meter Configurator).
The company operates a hybrid go-to-market combining direct sales via its website and US sales team with a global network of authorized resellers spanning Africa, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Europe (mainland and UK), and the Americas. Revenue is generated through one-time hardware sales (recorders, accessories, replacement parts) and one-time perpetual software licenses (Kaleidoscope Pro with a 15-day evaluation trial); pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. The company is private, became employee-owned in 2025, and reports 11-50 employees. Its customer base is anchored by long-standing relationships with the US Forest Service and USGS and is augmented by training delivered through the Wildlife Acoustics Academy and support partnerships with conservation organizations including Bat Conservation International, WWF, and Bat Conservation Trust.
Wildlife Acoustics firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Wildlife Acoustics
- Legal name
- Wildlife Acoustics, Inc.
- Website
- https://wildlifeacoustics.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2003
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Wildlife Acoustics designs and sells bioacoustics monitoring hardware (Song Meter and Echo Meter recorders) and Kaleidoscope Pro analysis software to biologists, researchers, and government agencies worldwide for wildlife species inventory, presence/absence surveys, and habitat health monitoring.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Wildlife Acoustics industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Bioacoustics Monitoring Equipment
- SIC
- Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Wildlife Surveys & Movement/Connectivity Studies (e.g., Avian/Bat, Telemetry) (EUAHAHAH)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Animal Identification & Tracking Devices (Microchips, RFID, Tags, Scanners) (HLAMAFAL)
Keywords
Where Wildlife Acoustics is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Maynard
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Wildlife Acoustics business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Hardware Acoustic Recorders: Sale of bioacoustics monitoring hardware including Song Meter SM5BAT, SM5, and Echo Meter product lines. Recorders capture wildlife sounds for species inventory and habitat monitoring applications.
- Software Licenses: Kaleidoscope Pro software for wildlife sound analysis. Software is available for 15-day trial evaluation before purchase. License activation code delivered upon purchase with non-refundable terms.
- Accessories and Parts: Replacement parts, batteries, enclosures and other accessory products for the recorder ecosystem
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Kaleidoscope Software - Non-refundable perpetual license |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Hardware Products - Returnable within 30 days |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels6 records
Wildlife Acoustics product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Wildlife Acoustics designs, manufactures, and sells bioacoustics monitoring hardware and analysis software used by wildlife biologists, researchers, and government agencies to capture, analyze, and classify animal sounds in the field. Its core offerings include Song Meter acoustic and ultrasonic field recorders, Kaleidoscope Pro desktop analysis software, Echo Meter mobile bat detectors, and the Wildlife Acoustics Academy training platform.
Product overview
Wildlife Acoustics is a bioacoustics monitoring technology company offering an integrated portfolio of hardware recorders and analysis software for wildlife research. The product ecosystem centers on Song Meter acoustic and ultrasonic recorders (ranging from SM1 through the new SM5 family) for field recording, and Kaleidoscope Pro software for desktop sound analysis and species identification. Mobile solutions include the Echo Meter Touch 2/Pro for smartphone-based bat detection. Additional offerings include Song Meter Configurator for device management, Wildlife Acoustics Academy for professional training, and accessories like Wac2Wav. The company serves biologists, researchers, and government agencies worldwide with tools for species inventory, presence/absence surveys, endangered species detection, and habitat health monitoring.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Kaleidoscope: Wildlife sound analysis software product line including Kaleidoscope Pro
- Echo Meter
- Song Meter
- Song Sleuth
- Wildlife Acoustics Academy
Products and services
- SM5 Family (SM5BAT, SM5) The company's flagship bioacoustics recorders for field deployment. The SM5BAT is a bat-specific ultrasonic recorder, while the SM5 is a general-purpose acoustic recorder capturing both acoustic and ultrasonic frequencies for species inventory, presence/absence surveys, endangered species detection, and habitat health monitoring.
- Song Meter SM4 and SM4BAT Professional-grade bioacoustics recorders for wildlife sound monitoring. The SM4 is a general-purpose acoustic recorder; the SM4BAT is designed for ultrasonic bat echolocation detection and recording.
- Song Meter SM3 and SM3BAT Earlier-generation Song Meter recorders for general acoustic wildlife monitoring and ultrasonic bat detection.
- Song Meter SM2 and SM2BAT Earlier-generation Song Meter acoustic and ultrasonic recorders used for wildlife sound recording and bat monitoring.
- Song Meter SM1 Early-generation Song Meter acoustic recorder for wildlife sound monitoring and species inventory work.
- Echo Meter EM3 Handheld ultrasonic bat detector for real-time echolocation monitoring in the field.
- Echo Meter Touch 2 and Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro Ultrasonic bat detectors that plug into smartphones or tablets for real-time bat echolocation detection and recording in the field; the Pro version offers enhanced analysis capabilities.
- Kaleidoscope Pro Professional wildlife sound analysis software that enables species identification, automated classification, and detailed acoustic analysis of recorded audio files. Sold as a non-refundable perpetual license with a 15-day free trial for evaluation.
- Song Scope Bioacoustics analysis software for viewing and analyzing wildlife sound recordings.
- Song Stream Software for streaming and analyzing bioacoustics data captured in the field.
- Song Scape Bioacoustics visualization and analysis software used to inspect recorded wildlife sound data.
- Wildlife Acoustics Academy On-demand online training platform offering live virtual training, webinars, and self-paced courses that teach wildlife professionals how to use bioacoustic monitoring tools and Kaleidoscope Pro software.
Quantifiable outcome
- Expanded knowledge of wildlife and ecosystems through systematic acoustic monitoring
Companies that use Wildlife Acoustics
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Wildlife Acoustics technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
Wildlife Acoustics partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- Bat Conservation InternationalminorWildlife Acoustics is proud to support Bat Conservation International, a global organization dedicated to conserving bats and their ecosystems.
- World Wildlife Fund (WWF)minorWildlife Acoustics supports WWF in their global conservation efforts protecting wildlife and natural habitats.
- Bat Conservation TrustminorWildlife Acoustics supports Bat Conservation Trust, a UK-based charity working to conserve bats and their habitats.
- Faunatech (Australia)coreAuthorized reseller providing sales, advice, and support services. Australian service and repair center for Wildlife Acoustics products.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Wildlife Acoustics competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Titley Scientific: Titley Scientific manufactures the Anabat line of ultrasonic bat detectors and recorders used by wildlife researchers and government agencies. It is the most direct head-to-head competitor to Wildlife Acoustics' Song Meter SM4BAT/SM5BAT and Echo Meter product family in the bat echolocation monitoring segment.
- Pettersson Elektronik: Pettersson Elektronik (Sweden) produces the D240X and M500 ultrasonic bat detectors and the BatSound analysis software. It is a direct competitor in the professional bat detection and acoustic recording equipment market, overlapping with Wildlife Acoustics' ultrasonic product lines.
- EcoObs GmbH: EcoObs manufactures the SongMeter-style SMIII/SMIV-style (note: unrelated brand) and BATmode recorders used in European bioacoustics and bat monitoring studies. It competes directly with Wildlife Acoustics Song Meter SM4/SM5 recorders for ornithology and chiroptology fieldwork.
- Frontier Labs: Frontier Labs (Australia) makes the BAR (Bioacoustic Audio Recorder) line of weatherproof acoustic recorders for wildlife monitoring, directly competing with the Song Meter SM4/SM5 in the unattended field-recording segment.
- Avisoft Bioacoustics: Avisoft Bioacoustics produces ultrasonic recording hardware (UltraSoundGate) and the AVISOFT-SASLab Pro analysis software for bioacoustic research. It competes with Wildlife Acoustics on both the ultrasonic hardware side and the analysis-software (Kaleidoscope) side.
Emerging players
- Open Acoustic Devices (AudioMoth): Open Acoustic Devices produces the AudioMoth, a low-cost open-source acoustic recorder based on a commodity microcontroller that has gained rapid adoption among researchers and citizen-science projects. It is an emerging low-cost competitor that pressures Wildlife Acoustics' entry tier and hardware pricing.
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology (BirdNET): Cornell Lab of Ornithology developed BirdNET, an open AI model for automated bird species identification from audio. While not a hardware vendor, BirdNET competes with Kaleidoscope Pro's species-classification value proposition and could compress Wildlife Acoustics' software differentiation over time.
- iNaturalist: iNaturalist is a citizen-science platform that uses AI (including audio-based species identification) to crowdsource biodiversity observations. It is an emerging, partially overlapping platform that could either expand or fragment demand for professional bioacoustics hardware like Wildlife Acoustics' recorders.
Others
- Wildlife Computers: Wildlife Computers makes satellite-linked tags and telemetry products for marine and terrestrial wildlife. While its product category is different (active telemetry tags vs. passive acoustic recorders), it serves the same wildlife-research buyer and competes for the same monitoring budget at research institutions.
- Lotek Wireless: Lotek Wireless manufactures VHF/GPS telemetry tags and receivers used in wildlife tracking studies. It is adjacent to Wildlife Acoustics—both serve wildlife researchers and government agencies—but addresses movement/telemetry rather than acoustic monitoring use cases.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Wildlife Acoustics social profiles
Digital presenceWildlife Acoustics financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Wildlife Acoustics leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Wildlife Acoustics funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Wildlife Acoustics 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 Wildlife Acoustics
What does Wildlife Acoustics do?
Wildlife Acoustics designs, manufactures, and sells bioacoustics monitoring hardware and analysis software used by wildlife biologists, researchers, and government agencies to capture, analyze, and classify animal sounds in the field. Its core offerings include Song Meter acoustic and ultrasonic field recorders, Kaleidoscope Pro desktop analysis software, Echo Meter mobile bat detectors, and the Wildlife Acoustics Academy training platform.
Is Wildlife Acoustics a public or private company?
Wildlife Acoustics is a private company. It is classified as management employee owned and is currently operating.
When was Wildlife Acoustics founded?
Wildlife Acoustics was founded in 2003. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Wildlife Acoustics based?
Wildlife Acoustics is headquartered in Maynard, United States, in the North America region.
How does Wildlife Acoustics make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Hardware Acoustic Recorders are the primary driver. The others are software Licenses and accessories and Parts.
Who are Wildlife Acoustics's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Titley Scientific, Pettersson Elektronik, EcoObs GmbH, Frontier Labs and Avisoft Bioacoustics. Emerging players are Open Acoustic Devices (AudioMoth), Cornell Lab of Ornithology (BirdNET) and iNaturalist. Others are Wildlife Computers and Lotek Wireless.
Does Wildlife Acoustics have an API?
No public API is recorded for Wildlife Acoustics.
What industry is Wildlife Acoustics in?
Wildlife Acoustics's product category is Bioacoustics Monitoring Equipment. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EUAHAHAH, Wildlife Surveys & Movement/Connectivity Studies (e.g., Avian/Bat, Telemetry), with a secondary code of HLAMAFAL, Animal Identification & Tracking Devices (Microchips, RFID, Tags, Scanners). Its SIC code is 3823.