Paris-based AI voice startup Gradium announced it has raised $100 million in a seed funding round, with Nvidia among the key backers. The company plans to use the funds to establish an office in the Bay Area and attract talent, strengthening its position in the world’s leading AI ecosystem. Gradium’s move highlights the growing importance of proximity to major AI players like Anthropic, Google, Meta, and OpenAI in Europe.
The startup, which originally launched in December with $70 million in funding from notable investors including FirstMark Capital, Eurazeo, DST Global Partners, Eric Schmidt, and French telecom billionaire Xavier Niel, was spun out of French AI lab Kyutai, a lab also backed by Niel. Both Kyutai and Gradium were co-founded by Neil Zeghidour, a researcher who previously worked at Google Brain, DeepMind, and Facebook. Gradium is focused on developing audio models that enable voice AI with ultra-low latency, allowing for near-instant responses without the typical delays seen in AI agent conversations.
Gradium faces competition from other voice AI startups, such as ElevenLabs, which was valued at $11 billion in February, and major model makers like Google’s Gemini. Despite this, Gradium has already secured notable clients, including French automaker Renault, since its December launch. Source: techcrunch
