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By Hoodline
Nuance Labs raises $50M Series A to build real-time multimodal AI avatars, led by Lightspeed
Seattle startup Nuance Labs, founded by former Apple Vision Pro engineers, raised $50 million in a Series A led by Lightspeed to build a single end-to-end multimodal model that produces synchronized audio and visual AI avatar responses in real time. The firm aims to eliminate laggy, stuttering, and awkward nonverbal behavior in current avatars by ingesting audio and video together rather than chaining separate speech, language, and synthesis models.
Former Axon President Luke Larson Expands Vale Matcha with 20 Mobile Bars, Robot Machines and Plans for 100 Locations
Former Axon president Luke Larson is scaling Vale Matcha in Seattle with roughly 20 mobile matcha bars, plans for 100 locations, a South Lake Union café, and robot-powered self-service machines that automate drink preparation.
Seattle AI Startup Venice.ai Raises $65M Series A at $1 Billion Valuation to Expand Privacy-First Chatbot Services
Seattle startup Venice.ai raised $65 million in its first funding round, reaching a $1 billion valuation as it expands its privacy-focused AI services. The company, with 3.5 million users, offers an uncensored chatbot alternative emphasizing data privacy and user control, and has become profitable.
