FILE PHOTO: AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters and robot hand are placed on computer motherboard in this illustration created on June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Jan 13 (Reuters) - Voice AI technology startup Deepgram said on Tuesday it raised $130 million at a $1.3 billion valuation as it looks to expand internationally, roll out new models, and pursue acquisitions.
The funding round was led by AVP, an investment firm that focuses on tech startups across North America and Europe, with participation from new investors including Alumni Ventures, Princeville Capital and Citi Ventures, the company said.
Existing backers including Tiger Global, Madrona and the CIA's venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel also participated in the Series C funding, it added.
San Francisco-based Deepgram provides enterprises and developers with artificial intelligence models and infrastructure to build and run custom AI voice agents that can hold real-time, contextual conversations at scale.
The fundraising comes as companies adopt AI agents in call centers and customer service across industries including retail, fintech and healthcare.
"Voice AI has gone mainstream in the last year. Any place where there's a text field or a button click, all of those products are working on adding voice, so there's just this groundswell of demand," Deepgram CEO and Co-Founder Scott Stephenson said in an interview with Reuters.
The company will use the funds to expand to new markets in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, increase the number of languages supported, and fund acquisitions and large compute purchases, Stephenson added.
Deepgram currently supports over 50 languages, according to its website.
The company on Tuesday also said it had acquired OfOne, a voice AI platform for drive-thrus, to expand its restaurant industry offering. It did not provide details on the value of the deal.
More than 1,300 organizations use voice AI functionality powered by Deepgram's API platform, the company said. It powers conversational customer-service AI platforms such as Decagon and Sierra, and counts NASA and Amazon Web Services among its clients.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
