Maryland-based AI company receives dual investment from TEDCO’s Funds
COLUMBIA, Md., (July 16, 2024) — TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announced a recent $500,000 investment in OmniSpeech. This investment was made in two parts, with $300,000 coming from TEDCO’s Venture Funds and the remaining $200,000 coming from TEDCO’s Social Impact Funds.
“After decades of research and development, we are excited to expand our reach to improve more apps and devices with AI/ML-powered speech,” said Carol Espy-Wilson, founder and chief technology officer at OmniSpeech. “With TEDCO’s generous investments, we are excited to advance our innovative AI and machine learning technologies.”
OmniSpeech, located in College Park, Md., is dedicated to improving any speech enabled device or application with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). To-date, their core noise suppression technology is used to eliminate background noise and improve voice intelligibility on apps and devices from leading manufactures. Leveraging their team’s expertise in speech science, AI, and optimizing ML algorithms for leading DSP platforms, OmniSpeech is expanding its R & D efforts to include improving automatic speech recognition (ASR), deep fake AI voice detection, voice biomarker identification and more. Earlier this year, OmniSpeech was announced as a winner of the Federal Trade Commission’s Voice Cloning Challenge.
“OmniSpeech’s innovative thinking includes promising solutions to supporting the growing needs of today’s voice powered technology and we hope this investment supports their continued growth,” said Katherine Hill Ritchie, senior director of TEDCO’s Venture Funds.
TEDCO’s evergreen Venture Funds are dedicated to funding and growing the next generation of early-stage businesses in Maryland. Learn more at https://www.tedcomd.com/funding/venture-funds.
“TEDCO’s investment in OmniSpeech exemplifies our diverse portfolio of companies with technology-based innovations,” said Jean-Luc Park, senior director of TEDCO’s Social Impact Funds. “As with all of our portfolio, we hope to see the company’s continued growth and development benefit the Maryland’s ecosystem.”
The Social Impact Funds were created to support underrepresented entrepreneurs throughout Maryland. For information about TEDCO’s Social Impact Funds, visit https://www.tedcomd.com/funding/social-impact-funds.