Launch Ukrainian synthetic voice Speaker finds success despite not only bombs raining down on their city, but a wave of hype that has stirred up sometimes controversial competitors. A new $1 million in funding will help the company add some studios to its media and gaming clients.
Respeecher is perhaps best known for being chosen to voice James Earl Jones and the iconic voice of Darth Vader for a Star Wars animated series and later a younger Luke Skywalker for The Mandalorian. But the company has also partnered with game developer CD Projekt (of Witcher and Cyberpunk fame) and recently struck a deal with Warner Music to recreate another iconic voice: French singer Edith Piaf.
Unlike text-to-speech engines, Respeecher uses voice models to modify the speech of actors, who do their best to recreate the voice or character in question. This way it’s not just created, but more like a prosthetic voice. They also change accent, helping to reduce an unwanted accent or helping to wear.
The ethical questions associated with cloning someone’s voice are obvious, particularly someone who is long dead and unable to meaningfully consent. And some startups and services have simply let the cat out of the bag, seeing it as a losing battle in many ways. (Not to mention it limits the scope of the clientele.)
Respeecher has made ethics a pillar of its business in its various industries.
“Consent is obtained from those who hold the rights. in the case of deceased actors, it could be an estate or family,” said CEO and co-founder Alex Serdiuk. “There are many cases where they are very involved in the process and provide valuable feedback to make the voice perfect – as projects like this are a tribute to their relatives, their contribution and the characters they built.”
Most recently they teamed up with Calm to have a voice based on the voice of old Hollywood star Jimmy Stewart.
For a living, leave and compensation are processed from scratch. Voice actors are beginning to see these voice models as assets for control and monetization, rather than (or perhaps in addition to) a threat to their livelihood. Respeecher compiles a voice library of actors who have chosen the process, and the company has also joined Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative (for what it’s worth).
By not focusing on scaling like crazy during a big year in AI, Respeecher may have missed out on some capital or business opportunities. But slow and steady might actually serve them well in this case – and besides, a lot happened in Kiev last year.
Correspondent’s team. Image Credits: Speaker
“Like all Ukrainian businesses and startups, this war has taught us what it really means to be resilient,” Serdiuk said. Fundraising is never easy and it probably would be easier if Russia wasn’t regularly attacking our cities with missiles or Shahid drones. After all that, now, I believe there are almost no obstacles our team couldn’t overcome or solutions we couldn’t find.”
However, the company managed to pursue a new industry during this chaotic period: synthetic voices for people who have lost the ability to speak for themselves. We’ve seen other startups and established companies enter this space that may not be as profitable or flashy, but they can change lives.
“We have a lot of projects with hospitals as well as ataxia or laryngectomy patients. One of the laryngectomy patients we had the opportunity to work with [is] Konrad Zieliński, PhD at the University of Warsaw who had lost his voice due to a laryngectomy. Our technology helped him communicate more naturally with his own voice,” Serdiuk said. You can read more about Konrad’s case in this blog post.
Respeecher announced today that it has raised a “pre-Series A” round of $1 million, contributed by entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk and funding from ffVC Poland, Bad Ideas, ICU and SID Venture Partners.
