shabd
Shabd Intelligence Pvt. Ltd. builds an AI Voice Engine delivering speech recognition, text-to-speech, speech-to-speech translation, and conversational agents across 22 Indian languages, serving finance, education, healthcare, legal, customer service, and government customers across India.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded-
- HeadquartersChennai, India
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What shabd does
Shabd Intelligence Pvt. Ltd. (operating as Shabd) is an India-based, privately held language technology company headquartered at IIT Madras Research Park in Chennai. The company develops an AI Voice Engine that delivers speech recognition, text-to-speech, speech-to-speech translation, and conversational agent capabilities across 22 Indian languages. Its product portfolio includes three end-user applications — BOLO (real-time spoken translation with online and offline modes), PUCHHO (a conversational multilingual agentic framework with domain-specific knowledge bases for finance, legal, education, and customer service), and HELLO (real-time spoken translation for live calls across mobile, desktop, and smart devices) — complemented by a developer Playground exposing Text-to-Speech, Speech-to-Text, and Speech-to-Speech translation building blocks.
The Voice AI Engine is delivered through three distribution layers: API/SDK integration for embedded deployment, a self-serve developer Playground, and direct enterprise sales for custom solutions. Shabd monetizes through subscription-based API/SDK access, professional-services-style enterprise engagements (including new language integration and industry-specific voice support), and licensing of its Voice AI Engine to third-party applications. The company targets six verticals — finance, legal, education, customer service, healthcare, and government — and operates a dual go-to-market motion combining product-led growth for developers with enterprise field sales for tailored deployments. No pricing tiers, transaction volumes, or named enterprise customers are publicly disclosed.
The company is led by founder Keshav Agarwal (M.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Bombay, ex-Microsoft software engineer, and former lead of the Speech Team for Indian Languages at IIT Madras) and is supported by an advisory bench of Padma Shri Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Prof. Hema A. Murthy (32 years in speech signal processing), and Prof. Umesh S (30 years in speech recognition research). No external funding rounds, revenue figures, named customers, or pricing details are disclosed in the available source material.
shabd firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- shabd
- Legal name
- Shabd Intelligence Pvt. Ltd.
- Website
- https://shabd.tech
- Company type
- Private
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Shabd Intelligence Pvt. Ltd. builds an AI Voice Engine delivering speech recognition, text-to-speech, speech-to-speech translation, and conversational agents across 22 Indian languages, serving finance, education, healthcare, legal, customer service, and government customers across India.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
shabd industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Speech AI Platform
- NAICS
- Translation and Interpretation Services (54193), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Speech Translation & Multilingual Speech Tech (HDAAAFAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Conversational AI Platforms (chat/voice bots, orchestration) (HDAAAFAC), Multilingual/Translation Communication Apps (BPAMACAJ), On-Device Speech & Audio AI (wake word, ASR, enhancement) (HDAAAJAF)
Keywords
Where shabd is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Chennai
- HQ country
- India
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices1 record
Markets served
shabd business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- API/SDK Access: Monetization through API and SDK access for developers and businesses to integrate Shabd's voice AI capabilities including speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and speech-to-speech translation into their own applications.
- Enterprise Solutions: Custom enterprise solutions including industry-specific voice support, new language integration, and tailored product requirements for large organizations.
- Voice AI Engine Licensing: Licensing of the Shabd Voice AI Engine for enabling voice interactions in third-party applications and products.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels3 records
shabd product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Shabd builds an AI Voice Engine that delivers real-time speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and speech-to-speech translation across 22 Indian languages. It packages this engine into a developer platform (API, SDKs, Playground) and three product solutions: BOLO for real-time spoken translation, PUCHHO for multilingual agentic conversational AI over domain-specific knowledge bases, and HELLO for real-time spoken translation on live calls.
Product overview
Shabd is a unified AI voice platform offering multiple products under its Voice AI Engine. The core platform provides speech and text translation capabilities across 22 Indian languages. Three main products serve different use cases: BOLO for real-time spoken translation in multilingual communities, PUCHHO as a conversational agentic framework for domain-specific knowledge access, and HELLO for live call translation. Additionally, a developer Playground offers Text-to-Speech, Speech-to-Text, and Speech-to-Speech translation tools that showcase the underlying AI capabilities available via SDK/API integration.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- BOLO: Real-Time Spoken Translation - Seamless language translation for India's multilingual communities with dual conversation modes.
- PUCHHO
- HELLO
Products and services
- Shabd AI Voice Engine Core AI Voice Engine platform from Shabd Intelligence providing real-time speech-to-text (STT), text-to-speech (TTS), and speech-to-speech translation across 22 Indian languages, delivered via APIs, SDKs, and the developer Playground for integration into customer applications and enterprise workflows.
- BOLO BOLO is a real-time spoken-language translation product that translates spoken input across Indian languages using the Shabd AI Voice Engine, intended for enterprise and developer use cases requiring live multilingual spoken translation.
- PUCHHO PUCHHO is a conversational multilingual agentic framework that enables domain-specific conversational AI grounded in customer knowledge bases across Indian languages, targeted at regulated industries such as finance, legal, education, healthcare, and customer service.
- HELLO HELLO provides real-time spoken-language translation for live calls, integrating the Shabd AI Voice Engine into live voice conversations so that participants speaking different Indian languages can communicate in real time.
Companies that use shabd
Customer profileSegments6 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
shabd technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability8 records
Feature6 records
shabd partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- IIT Madras Research ParkcoreShabd is incubated at IIT Madras Research Park, gaining access to cutting-edge speech research and academic expertise. This provides strategic advantages including guidance from renowned speech processing professors and proximity to research talent. The partnership enables the company to leverage IIT Madras's reputation and resources for product development.
Scale indicators1 record
Recent moves4 records
Expansion highlights4 records
shabd competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Sarvam AI: Bengaluru-based generative AI startup building Indic-language large language models and voice capabilities. Most directly comparable to Shabd in targeting Indian-language AI with a stack spanning speech, translation, and conversational agents.
- Gnani.ai: Bengaluru-based voice AI startup offering speech recognition, text-to-speech, and conversational AI agents for Indic and global languages, with strong focus on BFSI, BPO, and enterprise customer support verticals similar to Shabd's targets.
- Reverie Language Technologies: India-based language technology company providing Indian-language localization, speech, and Indic AI services. Directly comparable to Shabd in serving Indian-language digital content and enterprise customers across Indian vernaculars.
- Speechmatics: UK-based automatic speech recognition provider offering accurate ASR across dozens of languages including accent-robust English and growing Indic coverage. Comparable technology profile and API-first GTM to Shabd's speech-to-text engine.
Emerging players
- AI4Bharat: IIT Madras-hosted open-source initiative building Indic-language AI models, datasets, and applications (IndicTrans2, IndicASR, etc.). Operates in the same Indian-language AI space as Shabd with overlapping research roots, but as a non-commercial open-source effort.
- Bhashini (Digital India): Government of India-led language computing mission under MeitY providing AI-based translation, speech, and transliteration APIs across 22+ Indian languages. Directly comparable to Shabd's Voice AI Engine but as a public-sector / open-source platform.
Broad incumbents
- Yellow.ai: Mumbai-based enterprise conversational AI platform supporting 135+ languages including Indic languages, with voice and chat bots for customer service. Broader scope than Shabd but overlaps on multilingual voice agents and enterprise CX use cases.
- Observe.AI: Contact-center AI platform with speech recognition, transcription, and agent-assist capabilities, including Indic language support for Indian BPO and customer service markets. Comparable on speech-to-text and CX analytics but broader in target market.
- Google Cloud Speech-to-Text: Hyperscaler speech recognition service with growing Indian-language support across Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, and more. Most significant competitive incumbent in the same product category as Shabd's STT, TTS, and translation offerings.
- Microsoft Azure Speech: Microsoft's enterprise speech service offering speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and speech translation with Indian-language support. Direct overlap with Shabd's API/SDK product suite and a major competitive threat in enterprise deals.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
shabd social profiles
Digital presenceshabd financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
shabd leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
shabd funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
shabd 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 shabd
What does shabd do?
Shabd builds an AI Voice Engine that delivers real-time speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and speech-to-speech translation across 22 Indian languages. It packages this engine into a developer platform (API, SDKs, Playground) and three product solutions: BOLO for real-time spoken translation, PUCHHO for multilingual agentic conversational AI over domain-specific knowledge bases, and HELLO for real-time spoken translation on live calls.
Is shabd a public or private company?
shabd is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was shabd founded?
shabd was founded in -1. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is shabd based?
shabd is headquartered in Chennai, India, in the Asia region.
How does shabd make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. API/SDK Access are the primary driver. The others are enterprise Solutions and voice AI Engine Licensing.
Who are shabd's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Sarvam AI, Gnani.ai, Reverie Language Technologies and Speechmatics. Emerging players are AI4Bharat and Bhashini (Digital India). Broad incumbents are Yellow.ai, Observe.AI, Google Cloud Speech-to-Text and Microsoft Azure Speech.
Does shabd have an API?
Yes. Shabd offers SDK and API integration for developers to integrate speech and text processing capabilities into their applications. The company provides Voice AI Engine that enables real-time speech and text translations for Indian languages.
What industry is shabd in?
shabd's product category is Speech AI Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAAAFAE, Speech Translation & Multilingual Speech Tech, with a secondary code of HDAAAFAC, Conversational AI Platforms (chat/voice bots, orchestration). Its NAICS code is 54193 and its SIC code is 7372.