Funding Alert

AI-powered captioning service Ava raises $10M led by Khosla Ventures

• ByStartupStory     |    May 7, 2022

AI-powered captioning service Ava is now investor’s favorite startup following massive growth and their constant drive to keep showing the tech industry how deaf and hard of hearing people ought to be included in the hybrid workplace. The funding, a $10 million A round, was led by Khosla Ventures. Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Initialized Capital, LeFonds VC, and Ring Capital all participated in the round.

Ava CEO Thibault Duchemin, commenting on the new development, said, “With the funding, we’re doubling down on engineering and product, enabling new experiences that integrate Ava in the day-to-day needs of our deaf and hard-of-hearing users, keeping our signature around self-empowerment and accessibility done right”.

In addition to the expected improvements on the product and engineering side and some new partnerships coming down the road, the CEO added that they are also working to “massively expand” the network of “Scribes,” professional human captioners, so that content can be transcribed by a professional nearly instantly.

Ava’s main offering is providing instant captions for any voice the user hears, whether that’s on a Tiktok video, in a video call, or out with friends. Within the last one and a half year, the company claims to have grown its revenue and client base by 10x, mainly owing to its empowerment products rolled out to users in search of better solutions.

The company’s main approach is to provide a richer and independently configurable captioning tool that works on all content, from podcasts to all-hands meetings to in-person chats, and in a manner that the person can actually make use of it.

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