Speaksee, a speech recognition app that allows hearing-impaired and deaf people to participate in group conversations, announced it has raised over €1 million. The funding was provided by the impact fund NoorderImpact and various angel investors and will be used for international expansion and the development of new technology for more inclusivity in society.
The group of angels include the founders of the Dutch unicorn DataSnipper, Jonas Ruyter and Kai Bakker, and angel investors who participated through Rabobank’s Money Meets Ideas network. In addition, €240,000 of previously raised convertible loans was converted into equity capital. The funding round was supported by Generous Minds and Zebra Legal.
The funding will be used for Speaksee’s expansion into the UK, Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway. These countries were chosen because they offer good reimbursement options for assistive devices for people with disabilities. In addition, Speaksee is currently assessing its opportunities for expansion into Germany.
Backed by its financiers, Speaksee will also further develop its innovative technology to make it applicable in more situations. The company is currently working on solutions to make event locations for gatherings such as lectures and conferences, auditoriums, funeral homes and churches accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing through AI-based subtitling and translation technology. Finally, the company is also looking to develop new applications of its technology to improve inclusivity for non-native speakers.
Sjoerd Zijlstra of NoorderImpact said: “Speaksee matches very well with our goal to empower excluded groups in social situations. Its team is driven and has a strong connection to the target group. Therefore, we can’t think of a better company to make this initiative successful.”
Taking part in group conversations is very difficult for hearing-impaired and deaf people, in both business- as well as private situations. Due to multiple people participating in conversation, it’s challenging for them to follow what is being said, and who is saying what. Therefore, a lot of information is being missed.
Since 2022, Speaksee has ensured hearing-impaired and deaf people can actively participate in group conversations. Founder Jari Hazelebach and his team developed an app that converts the spoken word into written text, distinguishing what’s being said by the different speakers. Each of the up to nine conversation participants receives a small microphone with a color attached. These colors are integrated into the transcripts on the screen of the hearing-impaired or deaf person. In the process, any background noise gets filtered out. As a result, they are not only able to follow the conversation but also get insight into who contributed what.
Founder Jari Hazelebach commented: “NoorderImpact is one of the few investors that has included social inclusion as a company pillar. We are extremely pleased with the confidence of our financiers in us and our technology. The funding raised brings us one step closer to our goal: a society where everyone can actively participate in conversations and interaction, in any situation.”
Meanwhile, Speaksee is used by hundreds of deaf and hearing-impaired people in the Netherlands. It is also used by several companies such as KPN, Rabobank, PwC, the central government, and several Dutch municipalities. Since last week, Speaksee has been officially approved to be reimbursed by the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency (UWV), making it the first speech recognition app with this recognition.
