Startups developing voice AI technology and applications are at their moment. Model builders such as Eleven Love and Cartecia have raised millions of dollars in recent months. Applications such as the AI-powered Note Taker Granola, Meeting Tools Read AI and Fireflies AI are also receiving investor attention and support.
Continuing the trend, Dictation App Wispr Flow announced today that it has raised $30 million in Series A funding from Menlo Ventures with participation from NEA, 8VC, OPAL CEO Kenneth Schlenker, Pinterest founder Evan Sharp, Carta CEO Henry Ward and Lindy Ceo Flo Crivelli. Matt Clanning, a Menloventure who also supported the company as an angel investor, will be on its board. To date, the company has raised $56 million.
Tanay Kothari, the startup founder and CEO, started building WISPR to create a device that users can type with just a quiet utterance of words. The previous funding was for the business.
Last year, the company began instead focusing on WISPR Flow, a software interface designed for hardware devices.
The company released the MAC app in October 2024, followed by Windows apps in March 2025 and iOS apps earlier this month. Kotari said Silicon Valley's VCS has been using the product since its early release.
“I think every Tier One Venture Fund in Valley uses Wispr Flow for emails, notes, documents, etc. They feel like they're hooked on it and it's one of the products they use every day. This is why we've started getting a lot of inbound,” Kothari said of the profits of investors.
In particular, Granola also had a similar story that VCS receives immeasurable investor interest as it uses the product so much.
Startup CEO Tanay Kothari.imageCredit: WISPR Flow
Kotari also notes that startups will soon achieve profitability at current growth rates, and at first he didn't want to raise money. However, he was worried that large tech players with large distribution advantages could be a risk to the company. He wanted to quickly increase the company's revenue, so he reached out and decided to take the investment.
Matt Kraning, CEO of Menlo Ventures, was an avid user of the app, but WISPR Flow's first paper stated that it was a set of current input methods like a keyboard, “waiting for the thumb to catch up with the idea.”
“WISPR Flow creates efficient ways to translate digital thinking and intentions. The app captures user speeches and what they want to convey very well. The team didn't focus on things like word error rates, but instead thought about how people would speak while developing models,” he told TechCrunch.
User growth and future roadmap
The startup said the app is increasing its user base by 50% per month. Kothari pointed out that 40% of app users are in the US, 30% in Europe and 30% in other parts of the world. Additionally, over 30% of app users come from a non-technical background.
“More and more people are using AI tools, but still, there is no good interface for those who are not technicians. ChatGpt-style interfaces are the most common and were released three and a half years ago. They're built by all kinds of users, so you don't need to interface with AI.
Currently, WISPR Flow supports dictation in 104 languages. Kothari said 40% of the Dications are English, with 60% of them in other languages, with Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Hindi and Mandarin being the top languages.
The company will use its funds to grow the 18-year-old team, serving as engineering and to market roles. It also serves enterprise users by releasing Android apps and setting up a company-wide phrase context and support team.
Startups know more about your personal context and are working to build flows into AI-powered assistant-like products that help you do day-to-day tasks like sending messages, taking notes, setting reminders, and more. Additionally, the company said it is working with some AI hardware partners to move the interaction layer without naming them.