What Leonardo Labs does

Leonardo Labs is a Paris-based software operation founded in 2014 by Denis Delbecq, a French journalist and independent developer, structured as a sole proprietorship rather than a venture-backed company. The business builds productivity applications distributed exclusively through the Apple App Store, with a portfolio spanning audio-transcription assistance (the Qwaz Audio suite for iPhone, Mac, and iPad plus the 2024 AI product Chuchotis for macOS), an energy unit-conversion calculator (Energies), and a children's multiplication practice app (Multipleo!). Its core product, Chuchotis, leverages OpenAI's Whisper AI speech-recognition model executed locally on the user's Mac to convert audio and video files into editable text segments across more than 100 languages, exporting to DOCX, RTF, or SRT formats. The company's long-standing Qwaz audio technology provides proprietary pitch-preserved playback speed adjustment for manual transcription workflows, and is a registered trademark.

The target user base is horizontal and individual: written-press and internet journalists, humanities and social-science researchers, students, administrative assistants, medical professionals, documentarians, and similar knowledge workers who need to transcribe recorded interviews, lectures, dictations, and press material. Leonardo Labs monetizes through Apple App Store one-time purchases and freemium upgrades (Qwaz Audio Mac Edition offers a free tier capped at three minutes per session with a premium in-app purchase), and relies on product-led growth with community forums and earned media from French Mac-focused outlets rather than paid acquisition or enterprise sales. There is no external funding, no parent company, no subsidiary structure, and no disclosed revenue; the operation runs on the founder's time as developer, publisher, and primary support contact.

Name

Leonardo Labs

Legal name

Denis Delbecq

Website

https://leonardo-labs.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Leonardo Labs is a Paris-based sole proprietorship founded by journalist-developer Denis Delbecq that builds Apple-platform productivity apps, led by Chuchotis (on-device Whisper AI voice-to-text for macOS) and the Qwaz audio suite for transcription assistance, sold via the App Store to individual journalists, researchers, and professionals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. App Store Sales: Products sold through Apple App Store as one-time purchases or freemium with premium upgrades. Qwaz Audio Mac Edition offers a free version limited to 3-minute listening with in-app purchase for full Premium version.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Leonardo Labs develops and sells a suite of productivity applications for macOS and iOS. Its core offering is Chuchotis, an AI-powered voice-to-text transcription app that uses OpenAI's Whisper AI model running locally on the user's Mac and supports 100+ languages. The company also sells the Qwaz audio suite (Qwaz Audio Mac Edition, Qwaz Pro for iPad, and Qwaz Audio for iPhone) which provide pitch-preserved variable-speed playback to aid manual transcription, plus two utility apps (Energies for energy unit conversion and Multipleo! for multiplication practice).

Product overview

Leonardo Labs, operated by Denis Delbecq (journalist and developer based in Paris, France), develops a suite of productivity applications primarily focused on audio transcription and related tools. The core product portfolio centers on Chuchotis (AI-powered voice-to-text using OpenAI Whisper for macOS) and the Qwaz audio suite (Qwaz Audio for iPhone, Qwaz Audio Mac Edition for Mac, and Qwaz Pro for iPad), which all assist with transcription through playback speed control and tone correction. Additionally, the company offers Energies, an energy unit conversion calculator for iOS, and Multipleo!, a multiplication practice app for children. The company prioritizes user privacy, with Chuchotis performing all processing locally on the user's device.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Chuchotis: AI-powered voice-to-text transcription application for macOS that converts audio and video files to text using OpenAI's Whisper technology. Works entirely locally on the user's Mac.
• Qwaz Audio
• Qwaz Pro
• Energies
• Multipleo

Products and services

• Chuchotis for macOS AI-powered voice-to-text transcription application for macOS that converts audio and video files to text using OpenAI's Whisper AI. Designed for journalists, researchers, press officers, students, and other professionals who need to transcribe recordings. Features on-device processing for privacy, 100+ language support, DOCX/RTF/SRT export, segment-level correction, and optional translation to English.
• Qwaz Audio (Mac Edition) Audio player application for macOS that slows down playback to match typing speed for manual transcription. Uses Qwaz tone-correction technology to preserve voice quality at reduced speeds. Available in English and French for MacOS 10.11+. Includes a free tier with 3-minute listening limit and a Premium version via in-app purchase.
• Qwaz Pro for iPad iPad application combining audio playback with built-in text editor for manual transcription. Features adjustable playback speed with tone correction, audio marker insertion, and cloud export to iCloud, Dropbox, and Owncloud.
• Qwaz Audio for iPhone Audio player and recording app for iPhone. Supports playback speed adjustment with tone correction for manual transcription assistance, and iCloud/iTunes file import/export.
• Energies Energy calculator and unit conversion app for iPhone converting units of energy, mass, and volume for various fuels (gaseous, liquid, solid, nuclear). Includes electric power production comparator accounting for installation capacity and availability rates.
• Multipleo! Multiplication tables practice app for children on iOS. Collects no user data; all data remains on device.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100 languages supported for transcription
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 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.

• OpenAI / Georgi Gerganov (Whisper AI)coreTechnology or IntegrationChuchotis uses OpenAI's Whisper AI technology for speech recognition, licensed under MIT 2.0. The model is adapted by Georgi Gerganov for local execution. This on-device AI enables the 100+ language transcription capability while maintaining privacy.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Happy Scribe: An AI transcription and subtitle platform serving journalists, researchers, and media producers across many languages. It targets the same multilingual interview-transcription use case as Chuchotis but as a cloud SaaS with a web-first interface.
• Trint: An AI-powered transcription and editing platform targeted at journalists, researchers, and content teams. It addresses the same interview-transcription pain point as Chuchotis with collaborative editing workflows, but is cloud-hosted and priced for teams rather than individual Mac users.
• MacWhisper: A Whisper-based macOS transcription application that runs the same OpenAI Whisper model locally on the Mac. It is the closest direct competitor to Chuchotis, sharing on-device privacy positioning, Apple Silicon optimization, and a one-time-purchase App Store/Gumroad distribution model.
• Sonix: An automated transcription service for journalists, researchers, and legal professionals supporting multiple languages and export formats (DOCX, SRT). It competes with Chuchotis on multilingual accuracy and journalist-friendly export workflows, delivered as a cloud subscription.

Broad incumbents

• Microsoft Transcribe (in Word / Microsoft 365): Cloud-based transcription built into Microsoft 365 / Word, used by enterprise researchers, journalists, and corporate writers. It competes for the same document-production workflow as Chuchotis but is bundled into a productivity suite most professional writers already pay for.
• Apple Dictation / Live Captions: Apple's built-in on-device dictation, Voice Control, and Live Captions features shipping on macOS and iOS. They are the most threatening 'free' substitute for Chuchotis because they leverage the same Apple Silicon hardware and increasingly competitive on-device ASR, directly inside the OS the customer already owns.
• Otter.ai: A leading AI meeting and interview transcription platform serving journalists, researchers, and enterprises with cloud-based ASR, collaborative notes, and integrations. It competes for the same end-user personas as Chuchotis but operates at much larger scale and with a SaaS model, representing the cloud alternative that privacy-sensitive users may reject.
• Descript: An audio/video editing platform with integrated AI transcription used by podcasters, journalists, and documentarians. It overlaps with Chuchotis on transcription-for-content-creation workflows but is a much broader, subscription-based, cloud-hosted editing suite rather than a focused privacy-first Mac app.
• Rev: A major transcription provider combining AI ASR with a human-transcription service. Rev targets journalists, legal professionals, and researchers — the same core personas as Leonardo Labs — but competes on accuracy, turnaround, and enterprise integrations rather than on-device privacy.

Emerging players

• Whisper Desktop (open source variants): Open-source community projects that wrap OpenAI Whisper for local desktop transcription, often free. They are the most direct functional substitutes for Chuchotis from a privacy-and-cost standpoint and pressure any paid Whisper-based Mac app on price.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

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 Leonardo Labs