CompaniesInvestorsPeople
Home
Loading

aVenture is in Beta: research coverage is expanding as we build, so please independently verify key details before making investment decisions.

aVenture is in Beta: research coverage is expanding as we build, so please independently verify key details before making investment decisions.

Get in Touch

  • Contact

  • Request a Demo

  • Request Data Updates

  • Add a Company

Research

  • Companies

  • Investors

  • People

aVenture

  • Download App

  • Pricing

Download the aVenture Research beta for iOS and iPadOSDownload aVenture Research on the Mac App Store

Resources

  • Documentation

  • CLI

  • MCP

  • Feature Requests

  • Sitemap

Member

Backed by

© aVenture Investment Company, 2026. All rights reserved.

San Francisco, CA, USA

Privacy Policy · Terms of Service · Privacy FAQ

aVenture Investment Company ("aVenture") is an independent research platform providing detailed analysis and data on startups, venture capital investments, and key industry individuals. It is not a registered investment adviser, broker-dealer, or investment advisor and does not provide investment advice or recommendations. The data provided by aVenture does not constitute recommendations or advice, whether by methodology, analysis, AI-generated content, or a statement written by a staff member of aVenture.

aVenture is not affiliated with any of the people, companies, organizations, government agencies, regulatory bodies, or investment funds we provide coverage for on this site unless explicitly stated otherwise. Users assume full responsibility for decisions made based on information obtained from this platform. Links to external websites do not imply endorsement or affiliation with aVenture. Any links that provide the ability to invest in a primary or secondary transaction in a company are for convenience only and do not constitute solicitations or offers to buy or sell an investment. Investors should exercise heightened precaution and due diligence when investing in private companies, especially those not independently audited.

While we strive to provide valuable insights with objectivity and professional diligence, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information provided on our platform. Before making any investment decisions, you should verify the accuracy of all pertinent details for your decision. To the fullest extent permitted by law, aVenture shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or financial damages arising from use of this site, whether by consumers of its contents directly or by persons or organizations covered by our research, even if we are advised of the possibility. Our best-efforts processes and correction request forms do not create a warranty or duty of care.

Profiles on this platform may include content generated in part by large language models (LLMs, artificial intelligence) that aggregate publicly available sources (e.g., SEC EDGAR, public filings, press releases). Source attribution is provided where known; always verify statements and claims here against original sources before relying on any data. Content on our site may contain inaccuracies, omissions, or what are commonly called 'hallucinations' if generated in part or in full by AI / LLMs. The risk can also exist even when content is written by a human, as internal and third-party sources may also have inaccuracies for the same or different reasons. While we randomly audit a proportion of content, this is not exhaustive.

We recommend that an independent auditor be hired to verify the accuracy of the information before relying on it for any sensitive decisions. By accessing this platform, you agree not to rely solely on any information generated by AI, aggregated, or sourced or written otherwise on this site, for investment, financial, or other decisions. aVenture assumes no responsibility for inaccuracies, omissions, or hallucinations. You must independently verify all data from primary sources. Use of this platform constitutes your waiver of claims for reliance-based damages, including negligent misrepresentation. To report an error, request a correction, or dispute information about a company or individual, contact us via our request data updates form.

Loading
Loading
Home
News
Seattle voice AI startup Ultravox, formerly known as Fixie, acquired by Inworld

From GeekWire

By Lisa Stiffler

October 2, 2026

Seattle voice AI startup Ultravox, formerly known as Fixie, acquired by Inworld

Seattle voice AI startup Ultravox, formerly known as Fixie, acquired by Inworld

Seattle voice AI startup Ultravox, which launched as Fixie, has been acquired by Inworld for an undisclosed sum.

Ultravox was founded in 2022 by Google and Apple veterans to build a speech model for real-time, natural-sounding AI voice agents.

In perhaps its most whimsical project, the startup launched the HiSanta.ai website in December 2023, allowing users to chat with Santa Claus, who spoke with a British accent, as well as Rudolph, Mrs. Claus and other North Pole notables. The site is no longer active.

The company announced a $17 million seed round in March 2023, and PitchBook put its valuation at $51.46 million at the time. Redpoint Ventures led the round, which included Madrona Venture Group, Zetta Venture Partners, SignalFire, Bloomberg Beta and Kearny Jackson. Current and former executives at Google, Amazon and Apple also invested.

Ultravox has 10 employees, according to LinkedIn. It was unclear whether the entire team would join Inworld, which is based in Mountain View, Calif.

“We’re excited to welcome members of the Ultravox team and continue building the platform,” said Inworld CEO Kylan Gibbs in a statement.

The acquisition will allow Inworld to adopt Ultravox’s technology for managing turn-taking and interruptions in voice conversations with AI, which should improve performance in real-time chats.

Inworld has raised $119.8 million since launching in 2021 and is valued at $515 million, according to PitchBook.

Ultravox co-founder Zach Koch was most recently the company’s CEO. His LinkedIn profile says he is now vice president of product at Shopify. Peter Salas, who joined the company as a software engineer in 2023, is currently listed as chief technology officer.

The startup’s original CEO, Matt Welsh, departed two years ago and is now head of AI systems at defense company Palantir Technologies. Co-founders Hessam Bagherinezhad and Justin Uberti also left, in 2023 and 2024 respectively, and both joined OpenAI.

The release announcing the acquisition said Ultravox customers would be upgraded to Inworld’s Realtime TTS-2 voice technology.

View original article on geekwire.com

Most Recent

9 insights from ‘Private Tech Trailblazers’: Vertical AI becomes the growth engine

Private Tech Trailblazers companies pair AI with proprietary data and hardware for specific industries, from robotics and trucks to AI chips.

Oct 3, 2026

Spotify billionaire’s body scan startup has come to America

Farooq Abbasi, an investor in Neko Health, talked to Equity about the hot health tech company and what's next for it.

Oct 3, 2026

NetApp hands storage operations to AI agents, but humans still draw the boundaries

Data governance shapes how NetApp lets AI agents manage storage operations, with humans setting policy boundaries and reviewing audit trails.

Oct 2, 2026

AI in customer experience has an orchestration problem, not an adoption problem

Every information technology leader I talk to has an artificial intelligence story about customer experience. Almost none has an outcome story. That gap is now measurable. Talkdesk Inc., in partnership with NewtonX, surveyed 252 director-level-and-above leaders in customer experience, IT, operations

Oct 2, 2026

Similar Posts

Phonely launches Alma, a voice AI model trained on 10M+ phone conversations

Phonely Ltd. today announced the launch of Alma, a large language artificial intelligence model built for voice agents, trained on over 10 million real phone conversations. The company said that many AI models driving voice agents have been trained on text. This can make conversations sound slightly

Sep 1, 2026

Roblox acquires voice moderation startup Speechly

Two years after announcing voice chat was coming to Roblox, the gaming company has acquired a voice tech startup, Speechly, offering voice chat moderation, real-time transcription and Voice API that lets companies add AI voice technology and voice interfaces to their products and experiences. The Helsinki, Finland-based startup Speechly was founded in 2016 with the […]

Sep 20, 2023

Smallest.ai raises $13M to build ultra-fast voice AI that sounds genuinely human

The startup is building voice models designed to make AI phone calls pass the Turing test.

Jul 31, 2026

Microsoft targets ultra-realistic voice agents with its first streaming transcription model

Microsoft Corp. today expanded its MAI artificial intelligence model family with its first streaming transcription model, debuting alongside two others focused on text-to-speech. They’re designed for developers who want to build voice agents that can listen to people’s voices and reply instantly, si

Oct 1, 2026