Boston startup raises $25M

Modulate, a Boston-based voice intelligence startup, has raised twenty five million dollars in new funding led by Future Ventures with participation from Hyperplane and Lakestar.

What Modulate's platform does

The platform uses small models to offer enterprises transcription, emotional analysis, deepfake and AI music detection, and policy enforcement for voice agents in regulated industries.

From gaming to voice safety

Founded in two thousand seventeen by Mike Pappas and Carter Huffman, MIT physics undergrads who met at university, Modulate started in gaming voice modulation before shifting to voice-based moderation.

One hundred models in two categories

Modulate runs more than one hundred models split into signal extraction models for vocal emotion, tone and synthetic voice detection, and analysis models that assess intent and rule violations.

Why smaller models matter

Because Modulate runs smaller models, the company does not need specialized hardware and high compute costs, making it easier to train new models and add them as needed.

Beyond simple emotion detection

Carter Huffman said many people are polite to AI agents even when dissatisfied. Modulate gives enterprises granular data on customer intent and response beyond basic positive or negative analysis.

“many times people will be polite even to, like, AI agents or bots. Right. And they won't come across as angry, but they'll be very dissatisfied”

Expanding the team

Modulate currently has forty to forty five employees and aims to add ten more people in the coming months to bolster model building and increase on-premises and on-device deployment capabilities.