Nuance Labs
Category: Generative Media (Image / Video)
Seattle-based AI research lab building a full-duplex audiovisual foundation model for real-time, face-to-face AI avatars that perceive and respond with human-like expression. Nuance Labs was founded in 2025. The company is led by Fangchang Ma. Based in Seattle, Washington, USA. Team size: 11-50. Total funding raised: $60M. Latest round: Series A. Key investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Accel, South Park Commons, NVIDIA (NVentures), Define Ventures.
- Founded
- 2025
- Headquarters
- Seattle, Washington, USA
- Team size
- 11-50
- Total funding
- $60M
Value proposition
A single full-duplex model that streams audiovisual perception in and generates facial/vocal responses out simultaneously, replacing the stitched-together pipeline (transcription → LLM → TTS → animation) that makes current AI avatars feel frozen, choppy, and unnatural.
Products and solutions
Full-duplex audiovisual foundation model for human conversation and expression, real-time face-to-face AI avatar system, public research preview (waitlist) planned for late 2026.
Unique value
Native full-duplex architecture that perceives and generates audiovisual signals in the same moment — real-time responsiveness built into the model rather than bolted on — enabling avatars that read tone, gaze, gesture, and timing like a person does.
Target customer
Enterprise and consumer use cases where expression drives outcomes: sales and customer service, coaching, professional training, education, and AI companion/telepresence applications.
Industries served
AI avatars / conversational AI, customer service & sales, education & training, coaching, telepresence, consumer AI companions
Technology advantage
Single end-to-end full-duplex audiovisual model (vs. multi-stage pipelines); founding team of ex-Apple PhD researchers with deep expertise in person reconstruction, avatar generation, and ultra-low-latency ML; NVIDIA backing/involvement signals hardware-accelerated real-time serving.
How they differentiate
Competitors assemble avatars from separate transcription, LLM, TTS, and animation components, producing latency and unnatural turn-taking. Nuance Labs uses one native full-duplex model that perceives and responds simultaneously, targeting genuinely real-time, emotionally-aware face-to-face interaction rather than scripted avatar video.
Main competitors
Synthesia, HeyGen, Tavus
Key partnerships
NVIDIA (investor, NVentures), Lightspeed Venture Partners, Accel, South Park Commons, Define Ventures
Major milestones
Founded 2025 by ex-Apple PhD researchers, $10M seed led by Accel (Sept 2025), $50M Series A led by Lightspeed with NVIDIA and Define Ventures (Sept 2026), public research preview of full-duplex model planned late 2026.
Growth metrics
Grew from 4-person team (2025 seed) to 27 employees (Sept 2026); total capital raised $60M; public research preview planned for late 2026.
Market positioning
Frontier research lab positioning itself as the foundational model layer for real-time face-to-face AI, rather than an application-layer avatar video tool.
Geographic focus
United States (Seattle); global AI avatar/conversational AI market
About Fangchang Ma
Ex-Apple PhD researcher (worked on Vision Pro Digital Persona); Founder & Fellow at South Park Commons; previously at DJI; PhD from MIT.
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Official website: https://www.nuancelabs.ai