Cisco Investments and Third Culture Capital Invest in AI Startup Voiceitt to Scale Accessible Speech Recognition

Voiceitt, the Israel-based award-winning leader in speech recognition technology for non-standard speech, announced the closing of its latest funding round led by AMIT Technion, with participation from Cisco Investments and Third Culture Capital (3CC). The announcement follows the momentum of the beta launch of Voiceitt’s next-generation technology that recognizes and translates spontaneous speech of people with speech disabilities. An earlier version of the technology is available in the iOS App Store with the integration of Voiceitt's speech recognition capabilities with Alexa, and via partners and manufacturers that integrate their products with Voiceitt’s API or software development kit.

“Mainstream adoption of consumer voice products has driven new and transformative opportunities for Voiceitt, which is uniquely positioned as a significant innovator in this space,” said Rona Samler, CEO at AMIT, Technion’s investment arm in health technologies. “AMIT is excited to be part of this significant stage of the company’s development as it reaches impressive milestones in its next-generation speech technology, and to continue to support the company’s successful scaling and commercialization.”

Third Culture Capital (3CC) joins Voiceitt’s momentous funding round in alignment with a mission to rewire the world for the better by advancing equity and diversity in technology. 3CC invests in global-minded, uniquely qualified “Third Culture” founders whose experiences foster creativity, adaptability, and resilience. 3CC’s partnership with Voiceitt will bring physician-led insight into innovation in healthcare delivery, and access to its extensive and prominent network.

Voiceitt garnered early support from other investors such as AARP, the Alexa Fund, and Microsoft’s M12; and participated in the Google AI Launchpad and Techstars programs. Voiceitt has also partnered with Ruh Global Impact, a social enterprise that advances inclusion of people with disabilities.

“Our next generation technology, by expanding our current product offering and supporting spontaneous speech, enables individuals with speech and motor disabilities to perform everyday tasks independently - whether it is composing texts, making social media posts, or communicating with smart home devices,” says Danny Weissberg, Voiceitt’s CEO. “The great speed at which we continue to accelerate the algorithm development, vastly expand our large voice recordings database, and ultimately scale successfully is thanks to support from strategic investors like AMIT, Third Culture Capital and Cisco Investments, who share our vision to make voice AI accessible to people with non-standard speech.”

“True collaboration means making sure everyone at the table has a voice, that’s why Cisco is excited to invest in Voiceitt,” said Janey Hoe, vice president, Corporate Development and Cisco Investments. “Cisco is committed to inclusive collaboration, ensuring accessibility for all users.”

Voiceitt offers an API that enables seamless integration of its voice technology with any voice interface, making these products accessible to consumers with disabilities, degenerative disease or brain injuries, developmental disorders, aging-related speech changes, and even challenging dialects. Click here to learn more about where Voiceitt is available for integration or for download in app stores.

“When we came across Voiceitt, we were so impressed by the founders’ commitment, mission, and drive to level the playing field for those individuals who struggle with communication on a day to day basis,” says Julien Pham, MD, MPH, founder of 3CC. “Health equity is not just about gender and race, but also should be inclusive of veterans, disabled communities, and other vulnerable populations. The Voiceitt team has been so thoughtful about engaging thought leaders to gain insights from both clinical and health policy perspectives, particularly around the American Disability Act, and has shown true care in creating a technology that can work seamlessly for those who need it most, at a global scale.”

Voiceitt’s new stand-alone product, now in Beta, employs its cutting-edge algorithms to enable more flexibility and accuracy in natural spoken conversation by non-standard speakers, allowing them to calibrate the system and then experience mainstream voice products similarly to the way standard speakers do. Voiceitt’s underlying machine learning algorithms are built from the company’s proprietary large and growing database of non-standard speech recordings that educate and evolve the technology’s AI. Its initial rounds of beta testers were recruited from Voiceitt’s international network of nonprofits, disability organizations, hospitals and clinics, government entities, and educational institutions.

About Voiceitt

Voiceitt's mission is to help people with disabilities live more connected, independent lives. The proprietary automatic speech recognition (ASR) enables people with speech disabilities to access mainstream voice technologies, communicate by voice, and be understood. Voiceitt has been highlighted in international media, including Forbes, Amazon Science, BBC, and The New York Times. Investors include the Amazon Alexa Fund, AARP, and Microsoft's M12. Voiceitt was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Tel Aviv with a subsidiary in Stamford, CT.

About Third Culture Capital (3CC)

Third Culture Capital (3CC) is an immigrant-founded, physician-led, seed-stage venture capital firm whose mission is to advance equity and diversity in healthcare innovation. 3CC prioritizes early-stage investments for founders who ascribe to “Third Culture” principles” and have the potential to help transform healthcare to address health disparities by optimizing care delivery through healthtech and biotech. Their team of founders, investors and operators work with entrepreneurs to help turn their vision into reality, drawing on hard-won experiences scaling some of the most successful companies in the world. To learn more about 3CC and their current portfolio, visit www.thirdculturecapital.com.

Media Contacts:

Sara Smolley, co-founder and Head of Partnerships, sara[at]voiceitt.com

Sarah Browning, Third Culture Capital, 3CC[at]matternow.com