Smallest.ai raises $13M for ultra-fast voice AI with human-like conversation
Smallest.ai has raised $13 million in a Series A funding round led by Seligman Ventures, bringing its total capital to over $21 million. The startup is developing an advanced voice AI model designed to mimic how humans process and respond during conversations—listening, thinking, and speaking simultaneously with minimal latency. This approach aims to make interactions feel more natural compared to traditional large language models (LLMs), which often introduce noticeable pauses in real-time speech. The company's solution acts as a lightweight intelligence layer for customer support use cases, handling routine queries instantly while offloading complex issues to larger foundational AI systems when needed. Smallest.ai is targeting enterprise customers such as RingCentral and Truecaller, positioning itself against competitors like ElevenLabs by focusing exclusively on real-time conversational voice agents. The startup's CEO envisions a future where all AI assistants use two models: one small for immediate interaction and another larger model used in the background to handle more complex tasks. The company is also emphasizing support for diverse accents, multiple languages, and performance in noisy environments.
Topics: AI funding startups voice agents