Ava
Ava (Transcense, Inc.) provides AI-powered live captioning and transcription services for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, combining real-time speech recognition with human scribes for 99% accuracy across web, mobile, desktop, and major video conferencing platforms.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Ava does
Ava (legally Transcense, Inc.) develops an AI-powered live captioning platform designed primarily for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in San Francisco with an AI engineering team in Paris, the company combines real-time speech-to-text AI with optional human scribes to deliver captioning accuracy up to 99% across online meetings, in-person conversations, healthcare consultations, and educational settings. The platform spans web, desktop (Windows/Mac), and mobile (iOS/Android) applications, with native one-click integrations into Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams via its Ava Connect module, and supports 20+ languages for live transcription plus 50+ languages for translation.
The company monetizes through tiered subscriptions (Free/Community, Pro, Enterprise) alongside specialized plans for education, non-profits, and healthcare organizations, plus professional Ava Scribe captioning as a paid service. Its go-to-market is hybrid: product-led growth via self-serve downloads for individuals and SMBs, layered with enterprise field sales targeting Fortune 500 companies, K-12 districts, universities, healthcare providers, retail, live events, and religious organizations. Reported scale includes 150,000+ users across named enterprise customers such as Shell, Disney, L'Oréal, Airbus, NYC Department of Education, Vanderbilt University, and Mayo Clinic. To date, Ava has raised approximately $16.3 million in disclosed venture funding, including a $10 million Series A led by Khosla Ventures in May 2022 following a period of roughly 10x revenue and customer growth in the preceding 18 months.
Ava firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Ava
- Legal name
- Transcense, Inc.
- Website
- https://ava.me
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Ava (Transcense, Inc.) provides AI-powered live captioning and transcription services for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, combining real-time speech recognition with human scribes for 99% accuracy across web, mobile, desktop, and major video conferencing platforms.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Ava industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Live Captioning Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Assistive Hearing & Communication Access (Captioning, Hearing Support, Transcription) (EDAFAKAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Voice Assistants & Voice UI (VUI) (HDAAAFAD), AAC (Augmentative & Alternative Communication) & Speech/Language Therapy Tech (EDAFAKAB)
Keywords
Where Ava is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices3 records
Markets served
Ava business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others
Revenue model
- Subscription Plans: Tiered subscription model with different plans for individuals, companies, educational organizations, non-profits, and healthcare. Plans include Free/Community (personal use), Pro, and Enterprise tiers. Auto-renews unless cancelled 30 days prior.
- Professional Captioning Services: Ava Scribe professional captioning combining AI + human scribes for higher accuracy requirements and ADA compliance needs
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free/Community Plan |
| Subscription | Monthly | Pro Plan |
| Subscription | Monthly | Enterprise Plan |
| Subscription | Monthly | Specialized Plans |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels5 records
Ava product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Ava develops an AI-powered live captioning platform that converts spoken audio into real-time text for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. The offering combines AI speech recognition with optional human scribes for 99% accuracy, supports transcription in 20+ languages and translation across 50+ languages, and integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams for enterprise meeting captioning. Ava delivers its service through web, mobile (iOS/Android), and desktop (Windows/Mac) apps, with specialized plans for organizations needing ADA compliance.
Product overview
Ava is an AI-powered accessibility platform providing real-time captioning and communication services for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. The platform consists of a core suite of captioning products (AI Live Captions, Scribe, Transcripts, ASL Interpretation) supported by feature modules (Ava Connect, SpeakerID, Voice, Translate) that extend functionality for video conferencing and multi-language support. Ava is available across multiple platforms including Desktop (Windows/Mac), Mobile (iOS/Android), and Web applications. The platform integrates natively with major video conferencing tools (Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams) to deliver instant captions.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Ava Scribe: Professional ADA-compliant captioning service combining AI and human scribes for 99% accuracy.
- Ava Connect
- Ava Voice
- SpeakerID
- AI Live Captions
Products and services
- Ava AI Live Captions Real-time AI-powered voice-to-text captioning service supporting 20+ languages for deaf and hard-of-hearing users across online and in-person situations.
- Ava Scribe Professional ADA-compliant captioning service combining AI with human scribes to achieve 99% accuracy, suitable for organizations requiring compliance-grade captions.
- Ava Transcripts Professional digital media transcription service that stores conversation transcripts and generates accurate summaries on demand.
- Ava ASL Interpretation Instant American Sign Language interpretation services connecting deaf users with sign language interpreters for real-time communication accessibility.
- Ava Desktop App Desktop application for Windows and Mac providing Ava captioning services with full feature access for in-person and online meetings.
- Ava Mobile App Mobile application for Android and iOS providing 24/7 live captioning accessibility on smartphones and tablets for deaf and hard-of-hearing users.
Quantifiable outcome
- 99% caption accuracy with Ava Scribe AI + human scribe combination
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Ava
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments7 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Ava technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability5 records
Feature6 records
Ava partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Fondation pour l'auditioncoreNon-profit partner advocating for hearing-impaired community. Ava used for events to bring inclusion innovation for deaf and hard-of-hearing people.
- Video Conferencing PlatformscoreIntegration partnerships with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams to deliver Ava captions directly in video conferences.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Ava competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Otter.ai: Otter.ai provides AI-powered real-time meeting transcription and note-taking across Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. Direct competitor to Ava in AI meeting captioning and transcription for enterprise and individual users.
- Verbit: Verbit offers AI + human-hybrid transcription and captioning services for enterprises, education, and media. Closely comparable to Ava's hybrid AI + human scribe model with strong focus on accessibility and ADA compliance.
- 3Play Media: 3Play Media provides professional closed captioning, transcription, and audio description services with an emphasis on accessibility compliance for education, media, and enterprise — directly overlapping Ava Scribe's professional captioning positioning.
- Rev: Rev provides AI- and human-powered transcription and captioning services, including live captioning for events and meetings. Comparable to Ava in combining AI with human reviewers for high-accuracy captions across consumer and enterprise.
- Sorenson Communications: Sorenson is a long-established provider of communication services for deaf and hard-of-hearing users, including video relay and interpreting services. Direct competitor in serving the same target user population and notably an Ava investor (Sorenson Ventures participated in Series A).
Broad incumbents
- Microsoft (Teams Live Captions): Microsoft Teams ships built-in live captions powered by Microsoft's speech AI across all meetings. Represents both a distribution channel (Ava Connect integrates) and a competitive incumbent whose free native captions challenge Ava's paid proposition.
- Google (Meet Live Captions): Google Meet offers built-in live captions across its video conferencing platform using Google's speech recognition. Comparable to Ava in real-time captioning for meetings, distributed as a free feature of a much broader communications platform.
- Zoom Video Communications: Zoom provides built-in live transcription and captions in meetings, and is also a key distribution channel for Ava Connect. A platform incumbent that competes directly with Ava on free captioning while enabling Ava's enterprise overlay.
Emerging players
- Speechmatics: Speechmatics offers an enterprise speech-to-text API with broad language coverage, used by developers to build captioning and transcription products. Indirect overlap with Ava as an underlying technology provider that could power competing captioning solutions.
- OpenAI (Whisper): OpenAI's Whisper is a high-accuracy open-source speech recognition model that powers many downstream captioning tools and competitors. Represents both an enabling technology that Ava may leverage and a commoditization threat to standalone captioning products.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Ava social profiles
Digital presenceAva compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Ava financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Ava leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Ava funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds7 records
Investors18 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Ava M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Ava
What does Ava do?
Ava develops an AI-powered live captioning platform that converts spoken audio into real-time text for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. The offering combines AI speech recognition with optional human scribes for 99% accuracy, supports transcription in 20+ languages and translation across 50+ languages, and integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams for enterprise meeting captioning. Ava delivers its service through web, mobile (iOS/Android), and desktop (Windows/Mac) apps, with specialized plans for organizations needing ADA compliance.
Is Ava a public or private company?
Ava is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Ava founded?
Ava was founded in 2014. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Ava based?
Ava is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Ava make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Subscription Plans are the primary driver. The others are professional Captioning Services.
Who are Ava's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Otter.ai, Verbit, 3Play Media, Rev and Sorenson Communications. Broad incumbents are Microsoft (Teams Live Captions), Google (Meet Live Captions) and Zoom Video Communications. Emerging players are Speechmatics and OpenAI (Whisper).
Does Ava have an API?
Yes. Ava's Terms of Service explicitly restrict users from creating an API for the Apps or Services for purposes other than for accessibility to or transcription of conversations. This indicates that some form of API access exists for authorized use cases, though public/partner-facing API documentation is not prominently displayed on their main website.
What industry is Ava in?
Ava's product category is Live Captioning Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAFAKAC, Assistive Hearing & Communication Access (Captioning, Hearing Support, Transcription), with a secondary code of HDAAAFAD, Voice Assistants & Voice UI (VUI). Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.