It feels like AI companies want us all to talk to their products out loud more often. Meta, Google, OpenAI and Anthropic, to name a few, have added functionality to let users talk with their AI bots as naturally as they would with another person, taking advantage of advances in speech-to-text technology.
A startup called Wispr Flow feels it can outdo the bigwigs, though, with its dictation tech that supports more than 100 languages. The company today augmented its existing Windows and Mac apps with a new iOS app that doubles as a keyboard, letting you use your voice to type inside any app.
Now, you might be thinking this is just another speech-to-text company, but this reporter came away particularly impressed with Wispr Flow. As an Indian, I’ve never found a speech-to-text app that can fully understand what I am saying. I have also had a hard time getting AI assistants like Alexa and Siri to execute requests.
However, Wispr Flow presented a vastly better experience compared to any dictation tech I’ve used from Big Tech. At first, I had to edit my sentences across the Wispr Flow desktop and mobile apps, but after using it a few times, the dictation experience improved drastically. I ended up using the app to write long emails and messages, and even wrote much of this story using just my voice.
The app also has a numeric and symbol keyboard if you need to type special characters, and it learns custom names and terms automatically, or you can add them through its dictionary section. It also lets you whisper into your mic if you want to use it in environments where you can’t speak out loud. The company claims that the iOS app can work in environments with poor network coverage as well.
The startup’s co-founder, Tanay Kothari, told TechCrunch he set out to build a wearable device that would allow users to type just by mouthing words silently. The operating layer of that wearable was Flow, and last July, the company pivoted to focus on the software and released its Mac app a few months later.
On the desktop app, users can start dictating in any app by pressing a hotkey, which is easier to access. For the iOS app, the challenge will be to persuade users to switch to Wispr’s keyboard every time they want to use the app.
Wispr Flow is free to use until you hit a limit of 2,000 words per week. There’s an unlimited plan for $12 per month (or $144 per year) that also gives you early access to new features.
The company has raised $26 million to date from investors including NEA, Palo Alto Networks and 8VC. Kothari said his subscription business is seeing a conversion rate of 19%, and the startup’s revenue is increasing by 60% year-on-year.
The startup is working on releasing an Android app this year. It’s also building shared context functionality for teams so that the app can understand common terminology within enterprise contexts.
Wispr has many competitors, including YC-backed Aqua, Talktastic, Superwhisper and Betterdication. While Kothari expects more competition in this space with advances in AI and voice technology, he believes that Wispr’s engineering team and long-term investment in the tech will set it apart.
