WOW STORY OF THE DAY: Two Engineers From Hubballi Built the World's First Subwoofer Headphones and Made It to Forbes 30 Under 30

A Father's Japanese Home Theatre, a Smart Helmet, and a Pivot That Changed Everything

Navajith Karkera and Jagath Biddappa, both engineers, founded Sonic Lamb in 2018 under their parent corporate entity, Rapture Innovation Labs. Navajith, a Mechanical Engineer from Sahyadri College of Engineering in Mangalore, holds deep technical expertise in electronics, product development, rapid prototyping, system design, and PCB design. Following his graduation, he pursued entrepreneurship-focused development programs at NSRCEL-IIM Bangalore, NID Ahmedabad, and the Wadhwani Foundation. He also participated in the On Deck fellowship program in California, gaining critical insights into the global hardware startup ecosystem.

His lifelong obsession with sound was originally sparked by childhood memories of listening to music on his father’s Japanese home theatre system—an experience of rich, full-body audio that conventional headphones failed to replicate. Jagath Biddappa, Co-Founder and CTO, brought a deep curiosity for electronics and complementary engineering expertise to the partnership.

The company did not start out designing personal audio gear. Rapture Innovation Labs first developed an advanced smart helmet designed to redefine safe riding. However, when regulatory hurdles blocked that path, the founders refused to stop, turning the operational setback into a launchpad for broader innovation.

"We began with a smart helmet that redefined safe riding, but when regulations blocked our path, we did not stop. We pivoted," Navajith reflects.

The massive technological breakthrough arrived in 2019 when their newly developed Impulse Driver, born from intensive research and development, was embedded into a raw headphone prototype. The device produced a full-body listening experience that successfully combined air and body conduction simultaneously. They had not just built a new product; they had invented an entirely new audio category.

Patented Hybrid Driver Technology, Bang and Olufsen Mentorship, and the Tactile Headphone

The core product philosophy at Sonic Lamb answers a foundational question: What if personal audio could feel exactly like standing in front of the stage at a live concert?

"Traditional headphones try to reproduce bass purely through air pressure, but our impulse driver physically delivers low-frequency sound through the skin. This lets listeners feel the bass without increasing sound pressure in the ear canal," Navajith explains.

Sonic Lamb's patented Hybrid Driver Technology combines air, bone, and skin conduction to deliver deep, subwoofer-like bass through mechanical vibration. This allows listeners to both hear and physically feel sound waves. The flagship headphones feature specialized WooferPads, four distinct user-controlled music modes, wireless connectivity, and a dedicated companion app for Android offering customized equalizers, battery health tracking, and guided walkthroughs (with the iOS version currently in deployment).

Building this complex audio technology out of Hubballi required solving a manufacturing challenge that most Indian hardware startups actively avoid: mass-producing a completely new type of proprietary audio transducer. To overcome the lack of localized audio hardware manufacturing expertise in India, the team joined Denmark's prestigious SoundHub accelerator. There, they received direct engineering mentorship from Bang and Olufsen and Harman—two of the world's most respected audio institutions.

Following this acceleration phase, the company successfully transitioned its supply chain from a contract manufacturer in Gurgaon to its own fully integrated, in-house manufacturing facility in Hubli, Karnataka. This bold "Make in India" manufacturing bet stabilized production and unlocked global scale.

The brand's domestic and international recognition grew entirely through genuine product innovation:

• Won the KPIT Sparkle Gold Award for early-stage technological innovation.

• Selected for the SoundTech Accelerator in Denmark as the only startup chosen from outside Europe.

• Recognized by the Government of Karnataka as a Top 100 Startup in 2022.

• Named among 75 promising startups by India's Department of Science and Technology.

• Showcased globally at CES 2025 in Las Vegas.

• Featured in major publications including Forbes, TechRadar, Hindustan Times, Times of India, and Indian Express.

• In 2024, both Navajith and Jagath were officially named to the prestigious Forbes India 30 Under 30 list.

The first-generation Sonic Lamb headphones originally launched in 2023 via a successful global crowdfunding campaign targeting the US and European markets, later expanding into India through their direct-to-consumer website, Amazon, and select premium retail channels. The brand has successfully shipped over 7,000 units to more than 40 countries, generating between ₹80 million to ₹90 million in cumulative lifetime revenue, with the vast majority of sales accelerating across the FY 2025–26 period.

The Shark Tank Moment and the CES Innovation Award

Sonic Lamb appeared on Shark Tank India Season 4 (Episode 19), pitching at a ₹50 crore corporate valuation. Recognizing the massive global market potential of the technology, Lenskart founder Peyush Bansal stepped in to secure a deal of ₹50 lakh for 1% equity, plus an additional 1% advisory equity.

While boAt co-founder Aman Gupta ultimately declined an equity investment, he expressed strong interest in licensing Sonic Lamb's patented Impulse Driver technology for his own brand—a powerful industry validation for the Hubballi-based startup. Alongside the Shark Tank investment, the company is raising a larger ₹3 crore equity round to fund global market expansion.

Peyush Bansal has actively encouraged the founders to explore automotive haptic audio integration, and early-stage exploratory conversations are already underway regarding integrating Sonic Lamb's specialized conduction technology directly into future smart glasses.

The most significant operational milestone of 2026 is the official launch of the Sonic Lamb Generation 2 headphones in June 2026. The second-generation hardware has already been awarded the prestigious CES Innovation Award in the headphones and personal audio category. This global consumer electronics recognition confirms that their two years of iterative engineering refinements—focused on sound staging, ergonomic comfort, extended battery life, microphone isolation performance, and structural reliability—have achieved world-class standards.

Scale and Performance Metrics

The metrics below detail the financial, operational, and market scale of Sonic Lamb as it expands its global consumer electronics footprint.

The Deepest Tech Moats Are Built by Founders Who Ask Different Questions

The sharpest business lesson from Sonic Lamb's journey is clear: the most defensible consumer technology companies are those that create an entirely new product category rather than competing in a crowded, existing space.

While every major audio brand in the world was trying to figure out how to make headphones slightly louder, lighter, or better at active noise cancellation, Navajith and Jagath asked a fundamentally different question: How do we make headphones physically feel like a live festival?

That single question produced a powerful international patent, a distinct audio category, a Forbes 30 Under 30 honor, a CES Innovation Award, engineering mentorship from Bang and Olufsen, and a licensing offer from the head of India’s largest mass-market audio brand.

"We are building the next generation of Sonic Lamb, smaller, smarter, and more immersive," Navajith concludes. "And we are taking that vision beyond headphones, reimagining in-car audio so you can feel the music like you are front row at a concert."

Two engineers from Hubballi. A father's Japanese home theatre. A failed smart helmet project. A weekend audio experiment in 2019. Over seven thousand units shipped across 40 countries. A prestigious global CES Innovation Award. With Generation 2 arriving in June 2026, the sound is just the beginning.

Sources: Electronics For You, BW Businessworld, StartupTalky, Indian Retailer, Digital Herald, Tracxn Records.