Sanas touches AI to change the accents of workers in the call center in real time

The demand for voice and speech recognition technologies is massive – and is increasing. An Analysis In market research companies, markets and markets have found that the sector could cost over $ 28.1 billion by 2027.

There is no shortage of suppliers providing voice and speech recognition solutions, but some more upwards managed to carve niches. Sanas is a good example. Founded in 2020, the company is developing software that uses AI to adjust a real -time speaker accent.

“In Sanas, we believe that while the technology transforms the industry, it should not replace the human connection, but rather improve it,” said Sharat Keshava Narayana, co-founder and president of Sanas, before TechCrunch. “As the number of clients’ interactions continues to scathing worldwide, the need for communication between people and people remains critical.”

Maxim Serebriakov started Sanas with Sean Zhang and Andres Soderi while he was in college. The trio was inspired by the disappointing experience of a student working in a call center.

“Max and Sean’s friend, Raoul, who had to return to Nicaragua to support his family, was confronted with discrimination against the accent of his work at the call center,” Narayana said. “His experience with” training to neutralize accents “and the fee that took him inspired Max and Sean to build a solution to reduce bias to accents.”

In 2021, Narayana, who was previously co -founder of starting a call center Observe.Aijoined Sanas and the company provided its first funding tranche.

Sanas technology analyzes speech and outputs, converted speech that corresponds to a particular focus. The company claims to be able to maintain the original speaker’s emotion and identity while minimizing Reverb, Echo and Noise.

“What distinguishes Sanas is the company’s patented AI technologies that recognize the phonetic models and correct them immediately, retaining the unique identity of the speaker intact,” Narayana said. “Sanas’s AI models have been trained with over 50 million speech speeches using data sets collected by our technology partners and internal voice actors.”

Sanas recently acquired Intone, a competitor who Narayana said he “strengthens Sanas’s IP portfolio” and positioned the launch to serve a broader customer base.

Today, Sanas has about 50 customers in such industries as healthcare, logistics and hardware. Narayana said the company’s annual revenue reached $ 21 million, which is $ 3 million since last year.

Sanas is in a little controversial business. Some studies suggest This exposure to different accents actually helps fight bias. As technologists said to Guardian in a 2022 Starting ProfileSanas’ decisions are at risk of homogenizing workers in call centers.

Narayana pulled away against this concept.

“What makes Sanas special is not only technology, but also its deep human mission to break barriers, reduce discrimination and strengthen voices around the world,” he said. “Together with my co-founders, we build a world where communication is a bridge-not a barrier.”

Mixed optics seem to have not affected Sanas’s ability to raise money. This week, Sanas has announced that he has closed a $ 65 million financing circle that values ​​the company of over $ 500 million. Quadrille Capital and Teleperformance led a circle that also participated in Partners Insight, Ality Capital, Alorica and DN Capital.

After raising more than $ 100 million in capital, Sanas plans to build new algorithms for “speech”, expand to new regions, and “explore opportunities in industries such as health, retail and retail trade
Beyond, “Narayana said.

“With a clear focus on the scales of responsibility and innovation, Sanas is well prepared for potential winds of time,” he continued.

Sanas also intends to increase its approximately 150 team, added Narayana and open a new office in the Philippines, a village home in millions of contact centers.