Skip to main content

Hume

Category: Voice / Speech AI

An empathic AI research lab and technology company that develops the world's first emotionally intelligent voice interface and expression measurement APIs. Hume was founded in 2021. The company is led by Andrew Ettinger. Based in New York, USA. Team size: 58. Total funding raised: $73.0M ($23M + $50M Series B). Latest round: Series B ($50M, Mar 2024). Key investors include ["EQT Ventures","Union Square Ventures","Nat Friedman","Daniel Gross","Metaplanet","Northwell Holdings","Comcast Ventures","LG Technology Ventures"].

Founded
2021
Headquarters
New York, USA
Team size
58
Total funding
$73.0M ($23M + $50M Series B)

Value proposition

Provides AI with the ability to understand and respond to human emotional nuances, transforming human-computer interaction from robotic exchanges into empathetic, prosodic, and natural conversations.

Products and solutions

["Empathic Voice Interface (EVI): A multimodal API that integrates large language models with emotional intelligence.","Expression Measurement API: Tools to analyze vocal prosody, facial expressions, and text for over 50 dimensions of emotion.","Custom Empathic Models: Tailored AI models for specific enterprise emotional intelligence needs.","Hume Playground: A developer sandbox for testing and refining empathic AI interactions."]

Unique value

Built on 'Semantic Space Theory,' a computational framework that maps hundreds of dimensions of human expression, moving beyond simple 'happy/sad' sentiment analysis to capture complex nuances like nostalgia, awe, or disappointment.

Target customer

Developers, enterprise software companies, healthcare providers, customer service platforms, and AI research labs.

Industries served

["Healthcare & Wellness","Customer Experience (CX)","Robotics & Virtual Assistants","Education & EdTech","Gaming & Entertainment"]

Technology advantage

Possesses a proprietary dataset of millions of human expressions and a first-of-its-kind 'eLLM' (Empathic Large Language Model) that processes vocal tone and rhythm (prosody) in real-time with ultra-low latency.

How they differentiate

Hume differentiates through its scientific foundation in 'Semantic Space Theory,' mapping over 50 dimensions of human expression (prosody, facial expression, text) rather than simple sentiment analysis. Its Empathic Voice Interface (EVI) is specifically optimized for low-latency, emotionally resonant human-computer interaction.

Main competitors

["OpenAI (GPT-4o Voice)","Uniphore","Deepgram"]

Key partnerships

["Google DeepMind (Talent acquisition and IP licensing partner)","Union Square Ventures & EQT Ventures (Lead Investors)","Northwell Health (Healthcare implementation partner)","Various GTM strategy firms for enterprise scaling"]

Notable customers

["Northwell Health","Dot (AI Companion)","Various Healthcare and Customer Experience developers"]

Major milestones

["Launched the world's first Empathic Voice Interface (EVI) in April 2024","Raised $50M Series B led by EQT Ventures in March 2024","Entered a major talent acquisition and non-exclusive IP licensing deal with Google DeepMind in January 2025","Appointed Andrew Ettinger as CEO in January 2025 to lead independent operations"]

Growth metrics

Reached over 50 employees and transitioned to a core infrastructure/licensing model following a major talent acquisition deal with Google in 2025.

Market positioning

Research-led empathic AI infrastructure provider and API platform.

Geographic focus

Global (Headquartered in New York, USA)

Patents and IP

Proprietary IP includes the Empathic Voice Interface (EVI) architecture and specialized datasets; core IP is currently licensed non-exclusively to Google.

About Andrew Ettinger

Andrew Ettinger is an experienced technology executive and investor with a track record of scaling AI-centric companies. Appointed as CEO of Hume in January 2025, he previously served as a high-level executive and Chief Revenue Officer at companies such as Cogito Corp (an emotional AI pioneer) and various GTM strategy firms. He has overseen over $2B in ARR growth throughout his career and specializes in recruiting elite talent and scaling research-heavy startups into core infrastructure partners.

Official website: