Where is Kotoba Technologies headquartered?

Kotoba Technologies is headquartered in San Francisco, United States; Tokyo, Japan. The company has a team of 11-50 people.

When was Kotoba Technologies founded?

Kotoba Technologies was founded in 2023. It is based in San Francisco, United States; Tokyo, Japan.

Who is the CEO of Kotoba Technologies?

Noriyuki Kojima is the CEO of Kotoba Technologies. The company was founded in 2023.

Where is Kotoba Technologies located?

Kotoba Technologies is headquartered in San Francisco, United States; Tokyo, Japan.

What funding stage is Kotoba Technologies at?

Kotoba Technologies is currently at the Seed stage.

How many employees does Kotoba Technologies have?

Kotoba Technologies has approximately 11-50 employees.

Kotoba Technologies

Category: Voice / Speech AI

An AI-powered platform for real-time speech-to-speech translation and generation, breaking down language barriers. Kotoba Technologies was founded in 2023. The company is led by Noriyuki Kojima. Based in San Francisco, United States; Tokyo, Japan. Team size: 11-50. Total funding raised: $23M. Latest round: Seed. Key investors include Kindred Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund, Globis Capital Partners, Boost Capital, SIP Capital, Joi Ito.

Founded: 2023
Headquarters: San Francisco, United States; Tokyo, Japan
Team size: 11-50
Total funding: $23M

Value proposition

Provides highly accurate, ultra-low-latency real-time voice AI (sub-50ms TTS; professional-interpreter-speed S2S) optimized for East Asian languages, with flexible on-device, on-premise, and cloud deployment for translation, agents, and hardware.

Products and solutions

Koto: Proprietary end-to-end voice AI foundation model for ultra-low-latency real-time speech — S2S simultaneous translation, streaming STT, and TTS; optimized for East Asian languages; on-premise, cloud, and on-device., Kotoba app: Consumer/prosumer real-time simultaneous voice and text translation app (21 languages; primary JP/EN/ZH/KO/ES); evolved from earlier DOTSU iOS product., Kotoba API & SDK (Alpha): Speech-to-speech, streaming STT, and TTS APIs/Python SDK for developers and enterprise builders (announced May 2026).

Unique value

Kotoba Technologies specializes in developing proprietary, state-of-the-art foundation models for speech and language, with a strong focus on the nuances of Japanese and other Asian languages. Their technology goes beyond simple translation to capture and replicate the speaker's voice identity and emotional state.

Target customer

Enterprises, businesses, and individual users requiring real-time translation services, with a focus on Asian languages, particularly Japanese.

Industries served

General Consumer, Business Services, Media & Entertainment

Technology advantage

Core advantage is the proprietary Koto foundation model family purpose-built for East Asian languages (JP/KO/ZH focus), delivering ultra-low-latency S2S, STT, and TTS that runs in datacenter and on-device (phones, wearables, edge). Differentiates via simultaneous-interpreter-class latency, dual consumer app + enterprise API/SDK GTM, and hardware partnerships (e.g. smart glasses).

How they differentiate

Kotoba Technologies differentiates itself by focusing on generative AI for speech-to-speech translation, particularly for Asian languages. Their technology enables real-time, low-latency interpretation with capabilities for voice cloning and conveying emotions, aiming to provide a more natural and human-like experience than traditional text-based translation services.

Main competitors

Synthesia, SoundHound, Lilt

Key partnerships

SoftBank Corp. — Kotoba real-time interpretation featured in SoftBank's Daredemo AI service (Apr 2026), jig.jp — strategic partnership to bring Kotoba real-time AI interpretation to SABERA smart glasses (Jun 2026), GENIAC award recipient (METI/NEDO), Investors include Kindred Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund, Globis Capital Partners, Boost Capital, SIP Capital

Notable customers

SoftBank (Daredemo AI platform integration for real-time simultaneous interpretation), jig.jp / SABERA smart glasses (strategic product partnership), Fortune Global 500 and AI-native startups (enterprise voice agents / contact centers per company funding announcement)

Major milestones

Raised additional $10M seed (Jun 2026) led by Kindred Ventures with Salesforce Ventures and Sony Innovation Fund; total funding $23M., Raised $11.83M Seed 2 (Jun 2025) led by Globis Capital Partners and Boost Capital (not 2024)., SoftBank Daredemo AI integration and JP–KO Koto S2S model launch (Apr 2026)., jig.jp SABERA smart glasses partnership (Jun 2026)., Kotoba API/SDK Alpha release (May 2026); app >180k users., Co-founder/CEO Noriyuki Kojima: Best Paper Award NAACL 2022.

Growth metrics

Kotoba app surpassed 180,000 users (as of Jun 2026 company announcement); earlier DOTSU iOS app reported 500K+ sessions within three months of Mar 2025 launch.

Market positioning

Kotoba is positioning itself as a specialized provider of advanced, real-time AI interpretation solutions for businesses. They are focused on developing foundational models for speech-to-speech translation, targeting a niche that requires high accuracy and nuanced communication, particularly in the Asian market.

Geographic focus

The company has a dual headquarters in Seattle, USA, and Tokyo, Japan, with a primary focus on the Japanese and broader Asian markets.

Patents and IP

There is no publicly available information on patents or IP held by Kotoba Technologies.

About Noriyuki Kojima

Co-Founder and CEO of Kotoba Technologies. Previously, he was a PhD student in Computer Science at Cornell University, advised by Yoav Artzi. He also worked as a Research Scientist Intern at Google. He is a recipient of the Masason Foundation Fellowship and the Funai Overseas Scholarship. He won a Best Paper Award at NAACL 2022.

More Voice / Speech AI companies

Official website: https://www.kotoba.tech