What Parakeet does

Parakeet Inc. is a Japanese voice synthesis AI company founded in April 2022 and headquartered in Hirono Town, Fukushima Prefecture, with a three-person research team and registered capital of ¥10,804,140. The company develops and commercializes two core proprietary products: Paravo, a real-time voice conversion technology that transforms a user's live voice into a character voice with approximately 0.1-second latency on standard CPU laptops; and Paratts, a text-to-speech synthesis engine that produces high-quality 48kHz audio with markedly fewer kanji misreading errors than competing Japanese TTS products, synthesizing in approximately 0.3 seconds. Both products are built entirely on in-house technology with no third-party model dependencies.

Parakeet serves two distinct customer segments through a hybrid go-to-market model. The first is virtual content creators and character IP holders — individuals use Paravo on VRChat, Discord, and Zoom to inhabit character voices, while corporate character IP owners deploy Paravo to convert employee voices for live events and shows. Paravo has surpassed 80,000 users. The second segment is broadcasters, media, and entertainment companies, including Fuji Television, national CM advertisers, Toei Zukun Research, the University of Tokyo, and Sachiko Promotion, which license Paratts for AI voice applications such as commercial voiceovers, broadcast content, and the recreation of historical celebrity voices. The company also operates adjacent public-sector work through a ChatGPT-based AI concierge deployment for Hirono Town government.

The business model is subscription/recurring licensing for both enterprise and individual users, although no pricing tiers or subscription plans are publicly disclosed. Distribution combines direct enterprise sales for character IP and media contracts with a self-serve public demo of Paratts hosted on Hugging Face Spaces for individual and developer adoption. The company has obtained the AILAS business certification registration label (November 2025) for voice AI learning data authentication, was selected into Shibuya Startup Support's S-Startups Cohort 3 (December 2025), and its representative director was named the Japanese representative for the World Student Entrepreneurs Award (April 2026).

Name

Parakeet

Legal name

Parakeet Inc.

Website

https://parakeet-inc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Parakeet is a three-person Japanese voice synthesis AI company developing proprietary real-time voice conversion (Paravo) and text-to-speech (Paratts) products for the Japanese entertainment industry. It serves virtual content creators, character IP holders, broadcasters, and advertisers, with Paravo surpassing 80,000 users.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Voice AI and Speech Synthesis Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Sound Recording Studios (51224)

akta.pro primary industry

Voice Cloning, Dubbing & Audio Generative Media (HDAAAFAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Text-to-Speech (TTS) & Voice Synthesis (HDAAAFAB), Dubbing & Voiceover Production (Casting, Recording, Lip-Sync) (MPAHAFAB)

Keywords

• Voice synthesis technology
• Text-to-speech software
• Real-time voice conversion
• AI speech generation
• Japanese voice AI

Headquarters

HQ city

Fukushima

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Paravo Subscription / Licensing: Real-time voice conversion tool available to individual users and enterprise customers. Enterprise clients (character IP holders) license the technology to transform employees' voices into character voices for live events and shows.
2. Paratts Text-to-Speech Licensing: Text-to-speech synthesis technology sold or licensed to enterprises, broadcasters, and media companies for AI voice applications such as CM voiceovers and content production.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Parakeet develops and sells proprietary Japanese voice synthesis software through two core products: Paravo, a real-time voice conversion tool that transforms a user's voice into a character voice with approximately 0.1 second latency on CPU-only laptops, and Paratts, a text-to-speech synthesis engine that produces high-quality 48kHz audio with industry-leading Japanese kanji reading accuracy. The technology is built entirely in-house and is licensed or subscribed to by individual virtual content creators as well as enterprise customers such as broadcasters, character IP holders, and media production companies.

Product overview

Parakeet offers a portfolio of domestically-developed voice synthesis technologies for the Japanese entertainment industry. The core offerings consist of Paravo (real-time voice conversion) and Paratts (text-to-speech synthesis). Paravo converts live voice input to character voices with 0.1-second latency for use on communication platforms, while Paratts generates high-quality speech from text input with minimal kanji errors. Both products have been adopted by major character IP companies and entertainment brands.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Paravo: Real-time voice conversion technology that converts user's voice to character voices with ultra-low latency of approximately 0.1 seconds. Available on VRChat, Discord, Zoom, and other platforms. Can be used on inexpensive laptops with CPU without expensive GPUs. Over 80,000 users. Corporate clients with character IP can use it for employee voice conversion in live shows.
• Paratts

Quantifiable outcome

• 80,000+ users for Paravo voice conversion product
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability3 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Shibuya Startup SupportminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 23 December 2025Parakeet was selected as a Cohort 3 company in the S-Startups program, gaining access to startup support resources, mentorship, and visibility within the Shibuya startup ecosystem.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• ElevenLabs: ElevenLabs is a global leader in voice AI offering voice cloning, text-to-speech, and voice conversion across multiple languages. It competes with Parakeet in voice cloning quality and is rapidly expanding Japanese language capabilities, representing a well-funded global incumbent threat.
• Google Cloud Text-to-Speech: Google Cloud offers neural TTS including Japanese voices with WaveNet and other models. As a broad cloud incumbent, it competes with Parakeet's TTS for enterprise customers seeking bundled cloud AI services.
• OpenAI: OpenAI offers voice capabilities through its multimodal models (Voice Mode, TTS API) and is integrated into major consumer and enterprise platforms. As a well-funded broad AI incumbent, it represents both a competitive threat and a potential partner for Parakeet's Japanese-specialized workflows.
• Microsoft Azure AI Speech: Azure AI Speech offers neural TTS and voice synthesis capabilities across many languages including Japanese. As a broad incumbent with deep enterprise sales reach, it competes with Parakeet in enterprise voice deployments and represents platform-level bundling risk.

Emerging players

• Resemble AI: Resemble AI is an emerging voice AI company specializing in voice cloning and custom voice synthesis with real-time capabilities. It competes with Parakeet's Paravo in the voice conversion space, particularly for creator and enterprise use cases.
• Voicemod: Voicemod provides real-time voice changing and voice effects for gaming, streaming, and virtual communication platforms. It directly competes with Parakeet's Paravo in the real-time voice conversion use case for VRChat, Discord, and gaming creators.
• Lovo AI: Lovo AI offers AI voice generation and voice cloning targeted at content creators and enterprises. It overlaps with Parakeet's TTS and voice cloning use cases in commercial content production and advertising.
• PlayHT: PlayHT is an emerging voice AI platform offering voice cloning and TTS with broad language support. It overlaps with Parakeet's enterprise TTS and voice cloning offerings, particularly for content production and commercial deployments.

Direct peers

• AI, Inc. (株式会社エーアイ): AI, Inc. is a leading Japanese TTS provider offering enterprise-grade Japanese text-to-speech engines. It competes with Parakeet's Paratts product for commercial broadcasting, IVR, and embedded voice AI deployments in Japan.
• CoeFont: CoeFont is a Japanese voice AI platform offering voice synthesis and voice conversion services for creators and enterprises. It is the most direct Japanese-language competitor to Parakeet's Paravo and Paratts products, serving the same VTuber, broadcaster, and character IP markets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ParakeetIncCom

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Parakeet