Wispr Raises $280M at $2B Valuation, Expanding Beyond AI Dictation

Wispr, the AI-powered dictation startup, announced Monday that it has raised $280 million in Series B funding led by Menlo Ventures, bringing its valuation to $2 billion. The company plans to use the capital to expand beyond dictation, notably with the launch of a new meeting notetaker tool. This round brings Wispr's total funding to $361 million, just under ten months after its previous round. The funding arrives amid intensifying competition in the dictation market from apps like Willow, Monolouge, Aqua, and Superwhisper, alongside a wave of free or low-cost tools targeting prosumers. Existing investors—including Notable Capital, NEA, Neo Ventures, 8VC, and MVP Ventures—reinvested in this round, joined by new backers Acrew, Forerunner, Goodwater, Peak XV, Together Fund, and PLUS Capital. Alongside the funding news, Wispr unveiled Canto, a new model aimed at improving speech understanding. In recent weeks, users had flagged a decline in dictation accuracy, and Wispr says Canto will cut error rates from 30% to under 10%. Since November 2025, Wispr has expanded its presence: launching an Android app for AI dictation and scaling go-to-market teams in key regions like India and the U.K. The company is also partnering with hardware makers, such as the Oasis ring, to enable quiet dictation in public settings. With its new meeting notetaker, Wispr is entering a crowded field that includes Granola, Fireflies, and Read AI. While the tool currently offers summaries and action items, Wispr aims to integrate more deeply with other software, enabling automatic updates, document creation, and email drafts. Last month, Wispr introduced Wispr Interface Labs, led by Ariya Rastrow, an early Amazon Alexa engineer. The lab is dedicated to exploring novel human-computer interaction interfaces, signaling Wispr's ambition to broaden its platform beyond voice dictation.

via TechCrunch AI