The market for voice and speech recognition technologies is immense and continues to expand rapidly. A study by Markets and Markets projects that this industry could surpass $28.1 billion by the year 2027.
While there is an abundance of companies offering solutions in voice and speech recognition, some innovative startups are successfully finding their places in the market. Sanas is a notable example. Established in 2020, this company has developed AI-driven software that modifies a speaker’s accent in real-time.
“At Sanas, we believe that while technology is revolutionizing the industry, it should not displace human interaction but enhance it,” stated Sharath Keshava Narayana, co-founder and president of Sanas, in an interview with TechCrunch. “As global customer interactions continue to grow, maintaining human-to-human communication remains essential.”
Sanas was co-founded by Maxim Serebryakov, Shawn Zhang, and Andrés Soderi during their college years, inspired by a classmate’s frustrating experience at a call center.
“Max and Shawn’s friend, Raul, who had to return to Nicaragua to support his family, dealt with accent prejudice at his call center job,” Narayana recounted. “His experience with ‘accent neutralization training’ and the impact it had on him motivated Max and Shawn to create a solution aimed at reducing accent bias.”
In 2021, Narayana, who had previously co-founded Observe.ai, joined Sanas just as the company secured its initial funding.
The unique technology of Sanas analyzes spoken language and produces transformed speech that aligns with a chosen accent. The company asserts that it retains the speaker’s original emotion and “identity” while eliminating reverb, echo, and background noise.
“Sanas stands out due to its proprietary AI technologies that identify phonetic patterns and adjust them in real-time while preserving the speaker’s distinct identity,” Narayana explained. “Our AI models are trained on over 50 million speech samples collected from our technology partners and in-house voice talent.”
Recently, Sanas acquired competitor InTone, a move that Narayana claims “enhances Sanas’ intellectual property portfolio” and enables the startup to reach a broader clientele.
Currently, Sanas serves about 50 clients across diverse sectors such as healthcare, logistics, and hardware manufacturing. Narayana noted that the company’s annual recurring revenue has surged to $21 million, an increase of $3 million from the previous year.
Sanas operates in a somewhat controversial field. Research indicates that being exposed to different accents can help combat bias. Some technologists have pointed out in a 2022 feature about the startup that the solutions offered by Sanas might lead to a homogenization of call center workers.
Narayana has pushed back against this criticism.
“What distinguishes Sanas is not merely the technology, but its profoundly human mission to dismantle barriers, reduce discrimination, and amplify voices globally,” he asserted. “Together with my co-founders, we are creating a world where communication acts as a bridge rather than a hindrance.”
Despite the mixed perceptions, Sanas continues to attract funding successfully. This week, the company announced the completion of a $65 million funding round, valuing it at over $500 million. The round was led by Quadrille Capital and Teleperformance, with contributions from Insight Partners, Quiet Capital, Alorica, and DN Capital.
Having raised upwards of $100 million in total, Sanas intends to develop new “speech-to-speech” algorithms, explore expansion into new regions, and “pursue opportunities across sectors like healthcare, retail, and more,” according to Narayana.
“With a strong emphasis on responsible scaling and ongoing innovation, Sanas is well-equipped to navigate any potential challenges,” he added.
Sanas also plans to expand its workforce, which currently consists of around 150 employees, and establish a new office in the Philippines, a country that hosts millions of contact centers.
Compiled by Techarena.au.
Fanpage: TechArena.au
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