AI-powered transcription startup Verbit raises $157M

Verbit today announced the close of a $157 million series D round the company says will bolster its product R&D and hiring efforts. CEO Tom Livne, who noted that the raise brings the company's post-money valuation to more than $1 billion, said the capital will also support Verbit's geographic expansion as it prepares for an initial public offering. The voice and speech recognition tech market is anticipated to be worth $31.82 billion by 2025, driven by new applications in the banking, health care, and automotive industries. In fact, it's estimated that one in five people in the U.S. interacts with a smart speaker on a daily basis and that the share of Google searches conducted by voice in the country recently surpassed 30%. Livne, who cofounded Verbit.ai with Eric Shellef and Kobi Ben Tzvi in 2017, asserts that the New York-based startup will contribute substantially to the voice transcription segment's rise.