Israel AI-powered audio content platform Audioburst has announced the launch of its cross-platform API along with the completion of a $6.7 million Series A financing round. The round was led by Advanced Media Inc. (TYO: 3773), the leading speech recognition technology company in Japan, with participation from additional investors including Flint Capital, 2B-Angels and Mobileye investors consortium.
Former Viacom SVP Dan Sacher has joined Audioburst as its Head of Content Partnerships. Osnat Fainaru Benari, Head of Area 51, AOL’s innovation arm, has joined Audioburst as an advisor.
Audioburst strives to change the way people consume audio content in a connected world by automating the process of indexing, organizing and discovering audio segments in real-time. Audioburst listens to millions of minutes of live and prerecorded audio content each day, transforming them into searchable bursts wrapped with rich metadata.
Audioburst cofounder and CEO Amir Hirsh said, “The growing popularity of Amazon Echo, Google Home and voice activated apps, has created an exponential demand for audio content. In fact, as of 2016, 20% of search queries on Google’s mobile app and on Android devices are voice searches. Users have learned to get their factual answers spoken to them by the different devices, but are now looking for a winning content experience”
Audioburst offers a personalized listening experience across platforms. User profiles, or Listening Identities, learn and adapt to each user based on their unique consumption patterns and preferences. Each user experience is completely customized and distinct from any other.
Hirsh added, “We want to change the way people experience audio content. Audioburst is essentially the Spotify for spoken word content. Rather than tuning into a pre-programmed station or playlist, our AI builds a unique audio stream for every listener. Each stream is built from short audio clips that are cut from diverse professional audio sources.”
The new API will allow developers to tap into the world’s largest growing library of audio content and add personalized audio feeds, searchable audio libraries and real-time audio notifications to apps across the web, mobile, voice-activated IoT devices and in-car entertainment systems.
The company has offices in Tel Aviv, Palo Alto and New York.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 6, 2017
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