Innovation Works

Innovation Works is a venture capital firm based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, established in 1999. With over 20 years of experience, it has become a key player in Southwestern Pennsylvania's technology economy, focusing on investing in high-potential companies that can significantly impact the regional economy. As the largest investor in seed-stage companies in the region, Innovation Works supports a diverse range of sectors, including robotics, artificial intelligence, medical devices, retail technologies, and enterprise software. In addition to financial investment, the firm offers business expertise and resources to help manufacturers adopt new technologies, further fostering innovation and growth within the local economy.

Sophie Burkholder

Investment Associate

Kevin Dowling

Managing Director of Robotics Factory and Hardware

Peter Erin

Senior Investment Associate

Rich Luak

CEO

Jeffrey McDaniel

Investor

Megan Kahn Shaw

Managing Director, Life Sciences

Past deals in Speech Recognition

TalkMeUp

Seed Round in 2022
TalkMeUp operates in the corporate training sector, focusing on enhancing communication skills through an AI-driven platform. The company addresses the substantial demand for effective training by offering customized and on-demand communication coaching accessible via smartphones and computers. Users can receive immediate, data-driven feedback on their communication performance by recording their presentations or conversations. This approach allows organizations to improve employee competency across various professional settings, including retail, education, and hospitality. TalkMeUp's services are designed to empower teams in roles ranging from sales to customer service, ultimately fostering stronger communication skills that enhance overall workplace performance.

Spoken

Seed Round in 2021
Spoken is a text-to-speech application based in Marietta, Ohio, designed to assist individuals facing challenges in communication. The company specializes in developing a predictive speech application that serves as a natural-language assistant for those with speech disorders. Utilizing big data and machine learning, Spoken employs user-centered design to deliver augmentative and alternative communication solutions. This technology helps users with conditions such as aphasia and nonverbal autism by predicting the next words they wish to express, enabling them to construct coherent sentences on their smartphones or tablets.

Telling.ai

Seed Round in 2021
Telling.ai develops AI voice analytics software tailored for enterprise clients, focusing on telehealth solutions for respiratory health. The company's platform is designed to assist individuals with chronic lung conditions by monitoring lung health and managing diseases to prevent acute exacerbations. Telling.ai captures respiratory sounds in real-world settings, providing real-time feedback and enhancing data quality through denoising techniques. This technology enables timely interventions for patients, ultimately aiming to reduce the risk of costly hospitalizations.

TalkMeUp

Seed Round in 2020
TalkMeUp operates in the corporate training sector, focusing on enhancing communication skills through an AI-driven platform. The company addresses the substantial demand for effective training by offering customized and on-demand communication coaching accessible via smartphones and computers. Users can receive immediate, data-driven feedback on their communication performance by recording their presentations or conversations. This approach allows organizations to improve employee competency across various professional settings, including retail, education, and hospitality. TalkMeUp's services are designed to empower teams in roles ranging from sales to customer service, ultimately fostering stronger communication skills that enhance overall workplace performance.

TalkMeUp

Seed Round in 2019
TalkMeUp operates in the corporate training sector, focusing on enhancing communication skills through an AI-driven platform. The company addresses the substantial demand for effective training by offering customized and on-demand communication coaching accessible via smartphones and computers. Users can receive immediate, data-driven feedback on their communication performance by recording their presentations or conversations. This approach allows organizations to improve employee competency across various professional settings, including retail, education, and hospitality. TalkMeUp's services are designed to empower teams in roles ranging from sales to customer service, ultimately fostering stronger communication skills that enhance overall workplace performance.

Voci

Venture Round in 2014
Voci Technologies specializes in developing advanced speech recognition servers that convert audio into text for enterprise applications, aiming to enhance customer insights and monitor performance metrics in call centers. Their flagship product, V-Blaze, caters to businesses of all sizes by providing accurate speech-to-text processing for analysis, as well as a voice-based biometrics solution. The company also offers training, support, and customization services to meet the specific needs of their clients. Voci Technologies serves a variety of industries, particularly those that are highly regulated, by ensuring compliance and safeguarding audio data. Additionally, they produce automatic speech-to-text voicemail outputs for telecommunications companies. Founded in 2008 and based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Voci Technologies became a subsidiary of Medallia, Inc. in 2020.

Conversant Labs

Seed Round in 2014
Conversant Labs LLC, founded in 2012 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, develops a voice-enabled mobile application aimed at assisting blind and visually impaired individuals with online shopping. The company's innovative software provides a voice-based interface that is specifically designed for audio consumption, distinguishing it from traditional screen readers that merely convert visual content into audio. This tailored approach enhances the online shopping experience for users, making it more accessible and user-friendly.

Voci

Series A in 2012
Voci Technologies specializes in developing advanced speech recognition servers that convert audio into text for enterprise applications, aiming to enhance customer insights and monitor performance metrics in call centers. Their flagship product, V-Blaze, caters to businesses of all sizes by providing accurate speech-to-text processing for analysis, as well as a voice-based biometrics solution. The company also offers training, support, and customization services to meet the specific needs of their clients. Voci Technologies serves a variety of industries, particularly those that are highly regulated, by ensuring compliance and safeguarding audio data. Additionally, they produce automatic speech-to-text voicemail outputs for telecommunications companies. Founded in 2008 and based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Voci Technologies became a subsidiary of Medallia, Inc. in 2020.

Voci

Venture Round in 2010
Voci Technologies specializes in developing advanced speech recognition servers that convert audio into text for enterprise applications, aiming to enhance customer insights and monitor performance metrics in call centers. Their flagship product, V-Blaze, caters to businesses of all sizes by providing accurate speech-to-text processing for analysis, as well as a voice-based biometrics solution. The company also offers training, support, and customization services to meet the specific needs of their clients. Voci Technologies serves a variety of industries, particularly those that are highly regulated, by ensuring compliance and safeguarding audio data. Additionally, they produce automatic speech-to-text voicemail outputs for telecommunications companies. Founded in 2008 and based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Voci Technologies became a subsidiary of Medallia, Inc. in 2020.

Voci

Seed Round in 2009
Voci Technologies specializes in developing advanced speech recognition servers that convert audio into text for enterprise applications, aiming to enhance customer insights and monitor performance metrics in call centers. Their flagship product, V-Blaze, caters to businesses of all sizes by providing accurate speech-to-text processing for analysis, as well as a voice-based biometrics solution. The company also offers training, support, and customization services to meet the specific needs of their clients. Voci Technologies serves a variety of industries, particularly those that are highly regulated, by ensuring compliance and safeguarding audio data. Additionally, they produce automatic speech-to-text voicemail outputs for telecommunications companies. Founded in 2008 and based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Voci Technologies became a subsidiary of Medallia, Inc. in 2020.

Carnegie Speech

Series A in 2007
Carnegie Speech Company, Inc., a speech assessment and tutoring software company, provides speech training technology to help to speak English clearly. It offers Carnegie Speech Assessment, which rate the proficiency of spoken English; Native Accent, which teach to pronounce English clearly; and YOUTH Database, a set of recordings of children reading words, phrases, and sentences in English. The company serves BPO and education markets. Carnegie Speech Company, Inc. was founded in 2001 and is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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