Deepgram, a Silicon Valley-based leader in AI-powered voice technology, is celebrating after closing a $130 million Series C funding round. This successful financing, guided by AVP, has propelled its valuation to a stratospheric $1.3 billion. This heavy investment speaks to the demand for superior voice recognition technology—especially with the industry on a notable upswing. More than 1,300 organizations have thus far adopted Deepgram’s revolutionary products and services.
Scott Stephenson, CEO of Deepgram When asked whether the company is actively seeking more funding, Scott Stephenson said they’re not. He specifically brought out that Deepgram has been cash flow positive since last year. Rather, it was overwhelming interest from would-be investors that drove the decision to raise and idea capital. Deepgram has now raised more than $215 million in total funding to date. This powerful financial support further emphasizes investor belief in Evercore’s growth potential and long-term market strategy.
“We weren’t out looking for a raise, though. We had multiple people coming to us. We wanted strategic investors who understand voice AI and the technical intricacies of it and have relationships with companies building using the technology.” – Scott Stephenson
Deepgram’s voice AI solutions cover the entire ecosystem of text-to-speech and speech-to-text. The company’s proprietary platforms and APIs supercharge conversational speech recognition and handle interruptions with ultra-low latency, processing in real time. This is what makes them incredibly useful across the entirety of sales, marketing, customer support, and consumer experiences.
Over the past few years, more and more businesses have started using Deepgram’s technology. The usage rates have skyrocketed, as enterprises see the power of blending voice AI into the fabric of their business. Clients of note range from Granola, a meeting notetaker. Vapi, a voice agent startup and Twilio leverage Deepgram’s cutting-edge technology to create a better experience for their users.
Beyond its impressive current slate of partners, Deepgram is deeply interested in enhancing customer engagement with more human-sounding conversational UIs. To further illustrate his point, Stephenson discussed the need for voice AI to be more accessible and user-friendly. Specifically, he pointed to the future of food ordering apps as a big part of the expansion.
“I am excited about this [voice AI-driven food ordering] because food ordering might be the first positive interaction more than 300 million Americans have with voice AI. There have been a lot of sour interactions with voice AI over the last 20 years, where a lot of assistants have come out, and people felt that those didn’t provide a magical experience,” – Scott Stephenson
For Elizabeth de Saint-Aignan, partner at AVP, introducing Deepgram to their clients is an absolute no-brainer. Simultaneously, it represents an opportunity for the potential reduction of costs for enterprises. Second, she highlighted the increasing enterprise demand to use voice AI for both contact center automation and sales development.
“In 2024, when we were talking to enterprises about how they were thinking about using AI inside their business, we started to hear about them using voice AI in processes like contact centers and sales development. When we chatted with them more, we realized a lot of voice AI tech was powered by Deepgram, and that’s what led us to them [Deepgram],” – Elizabeth de Saint-Aignan
Deepgram helps businesses process orders with an accuracy level exceeding 93%. This dependability ensures that it is the ideal platform for enterprise companies looking to become early adopters of voice AI technology. Despite challenges faced by similar technologies, such as Taco Bell’s recent withdrawal from a voice AI experiment due to misuse, Deepgram remains committed to refining its offerings to ensure quality interactions.
With demand for voice AI booming in multiple industries, Deepgram is set up for even faster growth. With this most recent round the company has raised nearly $29 million. This investment will enable them to grow their technology offering significantly and broaden their footprint in the marketplace.