San Francisco-based Rime has secured a hefty $24 million Series A funding round, aiming to enhance its voice AI models for enterprise use. Founded by former Stanford PhD students, the startup is setting up a recording studio in San Francisco to gather unique conversational data, ensuring accurate pronunciation and industry-specific terminology.

The company’s focus on reducing customization load for clients makes it stand out in a crowded market of voice model developers like ElevenLabs and Deepgram. Despite progress, Rime acknowledges that IVRs still reign supreme due to their unmatched reliability in enterprise calls.

Rime has already secured contracts with major enterprises such as the Mayo Clinic, Dialpad, Upstart, and Asurion, crediting its success to better speech-to-speech models and reduced latency. The startup plans to expand its team by hiring for model development, engineering, and partnerships.

With Rafael Valle joining as chief scientist, Rime is looking to push the boundaries of voice technology, aiming for low-latency and high-reliability solutions in regulated environments. Its approach could mean smoother calls and possibly a future where IVRs aren’t quite the best option anymore.