Wispr raises $280M at a $2B valuation for dictation and meeting notes

In short: Wispr, a company that turns speech into text, raised $280 million and says it is expanding from dictation into meeting note taking.

What happened

Wispr announced a $280 million Series B funding round led by Menlo Ventures. The round values the company at $2 billion. Wispr says its total funding is now over $361 million, and its previous round was less than 10 months ago.

Wispr is best known for Wispr Flow, an AI dictation tool, meaning an app that types what you say (like a very fast note taker). The company says the new money will help it grow and move into new areas, including meetings. It recently released a meeting note taker tool that can create summaries and action items, which are the key takeaways and next steps.

Wispr also said it is launching a new speech understanding model called Canto. This comes after some users complained online about a dip in dictation quality. Wispr says Canto will cut its error rate from about 30% to under 10%, meaning fewer wrong words in the transcript.

The company is also expanding internationally, including in India and the U.K., and it is partnering with hardware makers like the Oasis ring. The idea is to let people dictate without speaking loudly.

Why it matters

For regular users, better dictation and meeting notes can save time at work and school, especially for people who prefer talking to typing. The competition is also getting tougher, with more dictation apps, including cheaper and free options, which could affect pricing and features.

Source: TechCrunch AI