Sonic Fire Tech announced on August 17, 2026, it has secured $15 million in seed funding led by The O.H.I.O. Fund, with backing from Khosla Ventures, Third Sphere and AirAngels. The Cleveland-based company, which suppresses fires using inaudible sound waves rather than water or chemicals, says the round is one of the largest-ever seed financings in Ohio.
The stakes are considerable. Structure fires cause an estimated $15.3 billion in direct property damage annually in the U.S., according to National Fire Protection Association data, even as conventional sprinkler systems struggle to extinguish flames in those critical first seconds. Sonic Fire Tech's infrasound technology promises to disrupt combustion within moments of ignition, without the collateral damage that has defined fire suppression for generations.
CEO and co-founder Geoff Bruder cut his teeth at NASA Glenn Research Center, where he spent years working on thermal and acoustic power systems. The company's origin story began when co-founder Michael Thomas brought him NASA patents related to acoustic fire suppression. They launched Sonic Fire Tech in 2019 and previously raised a $3.5 million seed round co-led by Khosla Ventures, Third Sphere and AirAngels, though the company has not disclosed its current valuation.
At its core, the technology relies on physics that feels almost counterintuitive. The system channels infrasonic waves at roughly 20 hertz through PVC pipes installed in ceilings. When sensors detect a fire, a sound generator manipulates air pressure around the flame, effectively creating its own suppressant. "We are the only technology that creates its own suppressant without collateral damage," Chief Commercialization Officer Remington Bixby Hotchkis told TechCrunch.
The startup currently operates with nine employees from its Ohio City office on West 41st Street, according to Axios Cleveland. That modest headcount belies the company's ambitions. Sonic Fire Tech is targeting residential kitchens first, where cooking accounts for the largest share of U.S. home fires and fire-related injuries, per NFPA research. The company has also developed a backpack-style infrasound extinguisher for first responders and launched an initiative to place 100 units with California fire agencies for field testing.
Getting past regulators represents perhaps the steepest climb. Third-party fire protection engineers have validated the company's Home Defense System as equivalent to NFPA 13D standards for residential sprinklers, and UL validation testing is underway for both residential and industrial applications. Formal NFPA approval typically requires a three-year gauntlet, though Bruder has suggested publicly that the timeline could be "significantly shorter" for Sonic Fire Tech. Los Angeles County issued its first permit for a 3D-printed concrete home to PCI Builders earlier this year, with Sonic Fire Tech's system included as voluntary interior protection.
The fresh capital will accelerate certification efforts, scale Cleveland-based manufacturing, expand the company's installer network and fund new engineering hires in Ohio. The company recently held a distributor event in Santa Barbara and has conducted live demonstrations for San Bernardino County Fire and Contra Costa Fire. The startup also earned a CES Innovation Awards honoree designation in the Smart Home category.
Bruder acknowledges limitations. In testing, the technology can contain lithium-ion battery fires but cannot fully extinguish burning cells. That caveat matters in an era when battery fires increasingly threaten homes, warehouses and electric vehicle owners.
Sonic Fire Tech faces entrenched competition from manufacturers like Viking Group, Victaulic, Tyco (owned by Johnson Controls) and Reliable Automatic Sprinkler, which collectively dominate the North American water-based sprinkler market. Clean agent systems using chemicals such as 3M Novec 1230 serve sensitive environments, though the market has shifted toward alternatives and inert gases after 3M exited PFAS production.
Positioning against that landscape requires a fundamental reimagining of fire suppression itself. "Traditional fire suppression tools weren't built for the wildfire reality we face today," Khosla Ventures partner Rajesh Swaminathan said when the firm co-led the company's initial seed round.
"The O.H.I.O. Fund and Khosla Ventures aren't just writing a check; they're betting on Ohio as the place to build the future of fire safety," Bruder said in a statement. The O.H.I.O. Fund, a Cleveland-based private investment adviser, has raised $647 million and deployed $219 million across 33 investments, according to recent fund disclosures.
Whether acoustic fire suppression can dislodge a century of water-based infrastructure remains an open question. For now, Sonic Fire Tech is manufacturing its first commercial units in Cleveland while advancing toward full regulatory certification and building out pilot installations in California. The technology works, at least in controlled settings. Scaling it into millions of homes and commercial buildings will require navigating code approvals, installer training, insurance adjustments and consumer skepticism about a fire suppression method that sounds, quite literally, like science fiction.
