WE ARE VOCALiD,
YOUR VOICE AI COMPANY
This is a central belief in what drives us to do the work we do.
OUR STORY
It began at an assistive technology conference — Dr. Rupal Patel walked into an exhibit hall and witnessed a little girl and a grown man having a conversation using their devices, different devices… but the same voice. She looked around and was astonished to see this happening all around her — literally hundreds of individuals using just a handful of the same generic voices. Voices that didn’t fit their bodies or their personalities.
We wouldn’t dream of fitting a little girl with the prosthetic limb of a grown man, why then was it okay to give her the same prosthetic voice as a grown man?
Dr. Patel was struck by this lack of individuality and felt it was important to create a solution that would give every individual a unique voice, regardless of their vocal ability. So, with some funding from the National Science Foundation, VocaliD was born.
"Science is an incredible superpower when applied to improve the human condition."
- Rupal Patel, Founder & CEO
As a data-driven voice AI company, we bring state-of-the-art speech science to this new era in human communication and connection.
Our Mission
To enable brands and individuals to be heard in their own voices. Unique digital voices built by VocaliD uplift those who rely on assistive technologies, diversify the voices we hear in speaking devices and apps, and enable businesses to tap into the full power of voice identity.
ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES
As leaders in the voice AI market, we recognize that today’s advances in technology come at breakneck speeds. Risks come just as quickly. As with any new technology, especially one that emulates a human trait, we need to consider the unintended consequences.
While our technology provides great social benefit, we are acutely aware of and committed to our ethical responsibility. In every new advance in our technology, we are proactively creating measures to ensure that it can not be misused.
THE VOCALiD TEAM
Rupal is an internationally renowned speech scientist turned entrepreneur, bringing decades of clinical, academic, and fundraising experience to VocaliD. Named a Voice Visionary in 2019 by Voicebot and listed amongst the 50 most creative in business by FastCompany, Rupal is a sought-after public speaker on the future of voice AI. Her work has been featured on TED, NPR, BBC, Wall Street Journal, and more. Rupal holds two patents, a degree in Psychology from the University of Calgary, a Masters and Ph.D. in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Toronto, with post-doctoral studies in speech acoustics at MIT.
Rupal Patel
Founder & CEO
Markus heads VocaliD's R&D efforts. He is a leading expert in parametric speech synthesis while also being a proficient software developer with extensive knowledge in machine learning, neural modeling, and performance optimization. He received his undergraduate from Vienna University of Technology, his Masters in Medical Informatics from the Medical University of Vienna, and his Ph.D. with distinction in Speech Synthesis from Vienna University of Technology
Markus Toman
Head of Research & Development
Chris brings a decade of experience to his role as Head of Engineering at VocaliD. Prior to VocaliD, Chris was Chief Technology Officer at Edmit. His extensive experience at established Boston tech companies — HubSpot, Localytics, and InsightSquared, makes him a great fit with the VocaliD team. A graduate of Northeastern University's Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Chris helped establish and is the founding donor of Khoury College's Jelly Incubation Fund.
Chris Jelly
Head of Engineering
Michele brings 20 years of marketing and business development experience in both early and late stage technology startups, consumer goods, food & beverage, as well as agency-specific expertise focused on content, influencer engagement, SEO strategy, and lead generation. Prior to her marketing career, Michele was a commercial photographer in Denver and NYC who worked with clients such as Cirque du Soleil and Women’s International Maternity Aide.
Michele Martin
Head of Marketing
Teo is a full stack web developer, DevOps engineer, and designer passionate about building new products and services from the ground up. Prior to his current role as front end developer for VocaliD, he worked at several tech startups in the Boston area. As a combined Computer Science and Design major at Northeastern University, Teo worked on various personal projects ranging from an editor with intelligent, creative coding suggestions to a visual programming language.
Teo Boley
Head of Product / Lead Engineer
Deanna is a developer with a passion for languages, both programming and natural. At VocaliD, she combines experience with linguistics and computer science to enhance AI voices. Deanna earned her undergraduate degrees in Computer Science and Logic from Carnegie Mellon University with a minor in Language Technologies. After working as a software engineer at the startup Woobo, she received her Masters in Computational Linguistics from Brandeis University.
Deanna Daly
Software & Analytics Developer
A lifelong learner with diverse health, data science, and business administration background — Jac believes voice can be a powerful medium to heal, uplift, and empower people & communities. At VocaliD, her passion for data-driven tools and her acute business acumen support voice AI projects and initiatives. She has an undergraduate degree in Business Leadership and a graduate degree in Clinical Nutrition from Northeastern University. Jac also holds professional certifications in back-end development and data science.
Jacqueline Carly
Voice Data Scientist
James is a 25+ year veteran of the voice industry. His work in broadcast and streaming audio is heard daily across the U.S. media landscape. He is also an accomplished voice-over artist, sound designer, and composer with 2 full feature films to credit. James is a voice innovator; he co-founded two voice companies, was Chief Audio Officer at Nuerolex Labs, and holds four USPTO granted patents in Voice and Systems and Methods for enhancing audio processes.
James Fairey
Audio Engineer
Regina is an aspiring bilingual speech-language pathologist whose passion for the field brought her to VocaliD. As a cross-team operations specialist, she assists with voice building and blending and customer support. She is a current graduate clinician at the University of Washington’s Speech and Hearing Clinic and conducting research at their Motor Speech and Cognitive Disorders Lab.
Regina McCoy
Operations Specialist
Our Advisors
Michael Fleischman
Machine Learning
& Big Data
& Big Data
Russell
Stevens
Strategic
Branding
Branding
John
Nguyen
Serial Speech Entrepreneur
Nathan
Burke
Start-up
Marketing
Marketing
Betsy
Ludwig
Strategic
Growth
Growth
Sridhar
Tayur
Entrepreneur
& Scholar
& Scholar
FUNDING | ACCELERATORS
