Meta has taken another step to expand its presence in the AI voice technology space with a new acquisition. Following last month’s purchase of PlayAI, the tech giant has now acquired WaveForms, a startup specializing in AI-driven voice solutions. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
According to The Information, the move is part of Meta’s strategy to strengthen its recently established Superintelligence Labs division.
Founded just eight months ago, WaveForms develops AI models capable of producing speech indistinguishable from the human voice. The company had previously raised $40 million in funding at a $160 million valuation, led by Andreessen Horowitz.
WaveForms’ founding team features notable industry names: Alexis Conneau, a former researcher at both Meta and OpenAI, is recognized as a co-creator of the neural networks behind GPT-4o’s Advanced Voice Mode. Co-founder Coralie Lemaitre previously worked at Google on advertising strategies.
As part of the deal, Conneau and Lemaitre have joined Meta. However, it remains unclear whether Kartikay Khandelwal, WaveForms’ third co-founder and CTO, will also make the transition. Following the acquisition, WaveForms’ official website has been taken offline.
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