Voiceitt

Giving voice through AI to people with non-standard speech patterns

Company: Voiceitt provides a speech recognition software designed to offer voice accessibility systems for individuals with non-standard speech patterns. The company's software leverages an AI-driven speech engine that recognizes and interprets non-standard speech, enabling customers who have motor, speech, and language disorders to easily communicate using their own voices by translating the unintelligible pronunciation into understandable speech.

HQ Location & Year Founded: Ramat Gan, Israel, 2012

Founders: 

Danny Weissberg, Co-founder and CEO, (pictured middle) has over 20 years of extensive experience in the tech industry in entrepreneurship, business development, management, innovation, research and development in cutting-edge technologies of complex software solutions. He has spent more than 10 years working as a software developer in AI and ML in the space of speech recognition and accessibility. Danny is a graduate of the Technion, Open University and Tel Aviv University. 

Dr. Stas Timokin, Co-founder and CTO, (pictured left) is an assistant professor in Computer Engineering at San Jose State University. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Robot Learning Lab of the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research at UC Berkeley. He received a PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. 

Sara Smolley, Co-founder and Head of Partnerships (interviewed), joined Voiceitt’s founding team in Israel after spending five years working and studying (MBA) in Hong Kong and South Korea. She has held a variety of roles over the years in human resources, education, marketing, product management and startup business development. Sara received a BA in Economics from Barnard College (New York), and an MBA from Yonsei School of Management (South Korea).

Funds Raised and VC Investors: $20 million in equity investment and grant funding. Institutional investors include AARP, the Amazon Alexa Fund, AMIT Technion, Cisco Investments, Connecticut Innovations, Dreamit Ventures, Microsoft M12, Quake Capital, and Techstars.

• Where did the idea for Voiceitt originate?

All three of us who are part of the founding team of Voiceitt were inspired by personal experiences. Danny is a civil engineer turned impact entrepreneur. Stas is a former UC Berkeley postdoc who specialized in AI and natural language technology. I came to this because of my grandmother, who had early onset Parkinson’s disease and who lost the ability to speak and be understood when she was only in her 40s. For Danny, this mission started when someone close to him lost the ability to communicate because of a stroke. He observed that caregivers learned ways of understanding him and other patients with similar speech deficiencies. He felt that if humans could figure out a way of understanding, then with enough data, machines could do so as well. 

• What is the key problem that Voiceitt intends to solve? 

We create technology for in-person communication for individuals with speech impairments. We are like a “Google Translate” that allows people to speak with medical professionals and say basic phrases like when ordering a coffee. We do this on a personalized level by collecting voice samples and synthesizing speech.  Because it is personalized, it can work in any language. One of the most important use cases is for voice-enabled smart home devices like Amazon Alexa. These devices can start to understand people with non-standard speech patterns through our Voiceitt translator that operates “behind the scenes” in these devices. 

• How are you most differentiated as a service?

There is no better time to be in speech recognition. It is no longer science fiction to have everything in the home become touchless and voice activated. We have built an API and SDK that are easily integrated, flexible and spontaneous. It takes minimum training time and our technology is more powerful than standard language translation. For this reason, we are being approached by companies in a wide variety of verticals. We are partnering with wearable devices, for example, to become accessible for all consumers. 

• What are the company’s key accomplishments to date?

We have had thousands of downloads of our app without any deliberate marketing. We believe the usefulness of the product speaks for itself. 

See demonstration video: shorturl.at/gKT68

• What lies ahead in the plans for Voiceitt?

We will continue to be at the forefront of making voice technology inclusive. We have partnered with great strategic investors like Amazon, Microsoft, Cisco and the AARP, who recognize that designing products like this for anyone can eventually benefit everyone. 

Ron’s Take

Voiceitt is giving voice to those who need it, both literally and figuratively. What is technology here for if not to solve real problems. People with disabilities are often among the most overlooked and dismissed in our society and that is not just an indignity for them, but it is a loss for everyone. When one does not have the ability to communicate with others, they become disenfranchised and unable to live up to their potential. Voiceitt’s technology is providing a monumental leap forward for a segment of the population that has been downplayed for far too long.