What Ava’s New $4.5M Funding by Khosla & Initialized Means for The Future of Accessibility
The future for 450M Deaf & hard-of-hearing people just got brighter.
I’m thrilled to announce that Ava has raised a $4.5M Series Seed co-led by elite investors Khosla & Initialized.
This wouldn’t have been possible without the ongoing support of our existing investors, clients, partners and most of all our Ava users — real Pioneers — , that I especially want to thank here.
I’m excited to be working with Alda Leu, Alexis Ohanian, Garry Tan at Initialized Capital, as well as Kanu Gulati and Sven Strohband, CTO at Khosla. Their experience in advising world-changing companies will be invaluable to transform the world of communication access.
Our next chapter: Radical Empowerment
With this, our next chapter towards total accessibility begins — we’re unveiling three new products that push boundaries like never before:
- #1: Ava Closed Captions, for Mac & Windows, adds closed captions to all your online videos and meetings, in one click.
- #2: Our Free Plan now includes unlimited captions, 24/7 available on all platforms Ava is, on iOS, Android, Web, Mac & Windows, in 15+ languages.
- #3: Ava Scribe, our new next-gen CART service providing 99% accuracy by mixing AI & transcription professionals, available in the US & France.
Each of these are game-changers in captioning technology. Together, they galvanize radical empowerment of Deaf & hard-of-hearing people in their day-to-day lives to make accessibility happen on their terms — instead of having to wait for it to be provided.
This completes the foundations for a totally accessible society for the Deaf & hard-of-hearing, as we envisioned when we started Ava.
COVID-19 poured gasoline on prior accessibility fires
Access to information is such a fundamental human right. But 5% of the world population who are Deaf & hard-of-hearing are denied this very right every single day.
I grew up in an all-Deaf family, witnessing, first-hand the impact of the lack of accessibility in my parents’ and sister’s daily lives. Job interviews, meetings, classes, campus life, social media videos all lacked — and are still lacking — proper accommodation.
Advocates have tirelessly pointed this out for years, but progress in society’s accessibility is so slow that it isn’t keeping up with the rapid increase of communications.
On top of that, the COVID-19 crisis hit hard Deaf & hard-of-hearing people, making their lives even more difficult:
- At home, the shift to a remote life threw people into platforms with more inaccessible content than ever. Captionless Zoom meetings, audio tweets, podcasts, Facebook Live broadcasts, Instagram or Tiktok videos, Slack calls, and many, many inaccessible services…
- Outside, masks everywhere made it impossible to read lips. Some made clear masks, but could you really expect everyone you ran into to wear one?
Built by the community and for the community.
At some point, you can’t rely on others anymore. You stop counting on companies, governments & society to meet your needs.
This is the paradigm shift happening today: towards autonomy & independence. Deaf & hard-of-hearing communities are empowering themselves to make accessibility happen, instead of relying on others to do it for them. A stunning example of this is the US Presidential debates, in which there weren’t any ASL or real-time professional captions, pushing members of the community to produce their own live-interpreted broadcast.
To build a totally accessible society for ourselves that doesn’t rely on others’ goodwill, while still welcoming help when it’s offered — that’s the goal we obsessed over and are bringing to fruition today.
Ava Free Plan — Free, Unlimited, Always.
Because of facemasks and social distancing, more than ever, Deaf & hard-of-hearing people have come to rely on Ava’s one-tap live captions.
In fact, it has become a vital tool for some.
With our Free Plan, Free Captions are completely unlimited in hours, now and beyond the pandemic.
The interface has been refreshed for faster 1-on-1 and group conversations.
With a larger group, knowing who says what is easier than ever — share access to your Ava Room with a simple link, and people join you from their phone (or computer), no download needed.
You deserve a stunning experience, every day.
Ava Closed Captions.
At home, everyone started using Zoom for meetings & classes because it was more reliable, rightly-so! But it wasn’t accessible. In this trade-off, Deaf & hard-of-hearing people were again left behind.
Other companies like Google and Microsoft, made automated captions available, but exclusively on their platform — literally the opposite of inclusivity!
We chose the path of self-empowerment and built Ava Closed Captions, a powerful, free one-click captions desktop app for Mac & Windows. With Ava Closed Captions, you’re able to generate closed captions in front of any video you’re watching or meeting you’re having.
Zoom meetings, FaceTime, social media videos, podcasts, talk radio… you name it — any audio from your speakers (or your system if you set up a Virtual Microphone) will be transcribed.
Ava Scribe
We’re also introducing Ava Scribe, our state-of-the-art live captioning service that combines the best of both worlds, human knowledge & artificial intelligence. It is exclusively available under our Ava Pro plan and is meant to be sponsored by organizations — like employers & academic institutions — to ensure their Deaf & hard-of-hearing members' accessibility needs are met.
When you use Ava Scribe, this means:
- Highest quality captions in work and education. Key meetings & classes require professional accessibility, making Scribe captions a great solution for Deaf & hard-of-hearing professionals and students.
- Instant scheduling. Request Ava Scribe in one click and your AI-generated captions will be corrected on-the-fly by professional transcribers with 99% precision.
- Lower costs. Because it draws from AI, professionals don’t need to be hired for a whole-day affair. Ava Scribe is priced much lower than other professional services. Besides, there is no minimum engagement time required, so you only pay for the time you use.
So, are you ready for a totally accessible world?
Because it’s already in motion.
Onwards,
Thibault Duchemin
CEO @ Ava
PS: Check out our announcement on Forbes
