Smallest AI has raised $13M in a Series A round led by Seligman Ventures, with participation from Sierra Ventures and 3one4 Capital.
We also welcome support from Better Capital, Upsparks Capital, Schema Ventures, Tiny VC, DeVC, Mission Street Capital, and a group of angel investors who believe in the future of real-time voice AI.
This brings Smallest AI's total funding to more than $21M.
Voice AI is creating a real impact on life and work. We believe the next generation of enterprise voice will be powered by Smallest AI” - Ashish Kakran, Managing Partner at Seligman Ventures
What we’re building towards
Voice AI has hit the same wall through every generation: systems that sound robotic, fail under real-world complexity, and add latency. Smallest AI's mission is to make voice conversations with machines feel human — natural, instant, and trustworthy at scale.
"The industry has focused on making models larger when the real challenge is architectural" says Sudarshan Kamath, CEO of Smallest AI. "Humans don’t wait for someone to finish speaking before they begin thinking. We listen, think, and respond simultaneously. Voice AI needs to work the same way. That’s why we built Smallest AI around a real-time architecture that processes speech as it arrives, enabling faster, more natural conversations without sacrificing intelligence. By rethinking the stack instead of simply scaling models, we’re reducing latency to the point where voice interactions feel human."
With the new funding, Smallest AI is doubling down on the next frontier of voice: a real-time speech-to-speech system. As these systems mature, they'll unlock conversations that are faster, more natural, and more capable than any cascaded stack — handling not just simpler conversations but complex, longer-running work in real time. We're looking forward to bringing that to financial services, healthcare, contact centers, and everyone else.
A thank you to everyone with us on this journey
To our investors: thank you for believing in our team before it was obvious. Ashish Kakran and the team at Seligman Ventures, along with Sierra Ventures, 3one4 Capital, Better Capital, Upsparks Capital, Schema Ventures, Tiny VC, DeVC, and Mission Street Capital, have been true partners.
To our customers: thank you for betting on us. We are proud to have your trust and honored to be building alongside you.
To the nearly 60 people building Smallest AI thank you for betting on this mission. You left great opportunities to build something bigger here, and you’re the reason any of this is possible. Your hard work, your belief on the hard days, and your obsession with getting voice right are what make this company special. The best conversations are still ahead of us.
