StreamUnlimited’s Anniversary: Our 20-Year-Story

In 2004, Philips decided to close its Audio Video Innovation Center in Vienna. Before that, we had tried to keep it going through a management buyout that would have made the engineering hub an independent company. But when that plan was rejected at the corporate level, the future of over 100 people was suddenly uncertain.

For many, that could have been the end. For us, it was the beginning.

Rather than walk away or scatter to different jobs, 24 of us—engineers, strategists, and problem-solvers—chose a different path. We formed a new company: StreamUnlimited. It wasn’t about chasing profit or scaling fast. It was about protecting what mattered most—the people we worked with and the work we believed in.

“We wanted to keep the team together,” Markus, our CTO, explains. “We had a strong core of engineers—and a level of expertise that’s hard to find. The real motivation was to protect our group and the work we believed in.”

In early 2005, we officially registered StreamUnlimited in Vienna, Austria. We fully relied on organic growth, deep technical expertise, trust in each other, and a clear sense of purpose — and it worked out. We started out as an engineering service provider, taking on early work in audio streaming, wireless communication, and what would later be called IoT. These projects helped us stay afloat, financially and technically, but we quickly realized that a service-only model wasn’t enough. Projects were long and expensive, and we needed a more scalable way to deliver value.

So, we began developing our own reusable software components—modular tools that could be used across multiple projects. This work laid the foundation for what would become StreamSDK, our proprietary streaming software platform. It was designed to help customers shorten development cycles and reduce risk, while allowing us to scale through licensing.

With no outside funding, we adopted a strategic co-development model—partnering closely with customers to build the features and tools they needed most. In return, they benefited from early access, tailored support, or preferred licensing terms. This collaborative approach allowed us to move faster, reduce risk, and invest in long-term platform improvements—while remaining fully independent.

“Our clients were true development partners,” Markus recalls. “By collaborating closely, we were able to deliver what they needed faster—while also building solutions that could serve a broader market.”

This approach shaped who we are. One early milestone was the development of StreamSDK in close collaboration with Texas Instruments. By 2010, it was ready for broader adoption, and we began scaling.

We followed with a series of hardware modules—Stream700, Stream800, and Stream810—developed hand-in-hand with audio manufacturers. These gave customers a fast, reliable path to market, while our licensing model kept innovation self-funded and sustainable.

Strong partnerships have always been at the core of how we work—whether with customers, ecosystem collaborators, or service providers. Our growth has been shaped not just by what we’ve built internally, but by the people and companies we’ve built alongside. From technology alliances and chipset providers to certification labs and integration partners, we’ve always believed that working closely with others leads to better outcomes, for everyone involved.

As the 2020s approached, we began exploring new areas. We shifted our IoT work toward Matter, the emerging smart home standard. We introduced Stream2Go—a ready-to-deploy, simplified streaming solution for high-volume brands with limited engineering capacity. We launched StreamAnalytics, giving our partners post-sale visibility into product usage via cloud-based insights. And in 2021, we introduced StreamAmp—a platform designed for high-end audio manufacturers who need full wireless streaming and amplification in one integrated solution.

Throughout this journey, we’ve remained largely independent in how we operate and grow. While we’ve welcomed strategic investment—most notably from Google—we’ve always kept control of our direction. That freedom has allowed us to plan long-term, think strategically, and stay focused on solving real challenges for our partners. It also lets us build at our own pace, form meaningful relationships, and avoid short-term distractions.

Today, two decades later, the reasons we formed are still deeply embedded in how we operate. We came together because we believed that great engineering—and great teams—shouldn’t disappear just because a corporate structure does. We’ve grown because our clients, colleagues, and partners believe in that same principle.

We didn’t start StreamUnlimited to disrupt anything. We started it to protect something. And that purpose continues to guide us, twenty years on.