2Hz finds its voice with $1.5m

2Hz, a US-based voice processing technology spinout from Yerevan State University that graduated from University of California Berkeley’s SkyDeck accelerator, has secured $1.5m in a seed round featuring Sierra Ventures.
Granatus Ventures also took part in the round, as did Shanda Group and IronFire Ventures.
Founded in 2017, 2Hz has developed technology to improve the quality of sound recordings and phone calls. The technology combines machine learning and digital signal processing to remove background noise, protect speech and recover sound dropouts.
2Hz will use the cash to enhance both the core technology and its Krisp.ai software product, which cleans up disturbances on phone calls.
The company was co-founded by chief technology officer Artavazd Minasyan, who completed a Master’s degree and PhD at Yerevan State University in physics and mathematics respectively. Minasyan was helped by CEO Davit Baghdasaryan, previously the lead for product security at cloud communications platform Twilio.
2Hz previously secured $200,000 in debt from undisclosed investors in November 2017, according to a regulatory filing. It also received $100,000 in exchange for a 5% equity stake ahead of joining SkyDeck’s inaugural cohort in February 2018.
Granatus Ventures supplied 2Hz with a sum of undisclosed size in December 2017, and the startup has also previously received support from Hive Ventures.