Nuance Labs secures $50M to develop realistic AI avatars

Seattle-based startup Nuance Labs has closed a $50 million Series A funding round to develop more realistic AI avatars. The funding round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Accel and South Park Commons, as well as new investors Nvidia Corp. and Define Ventures.

Co-founder and CEO Fangchang Ma, a former AI researcher at Apple Inc., aims to build a “human foundation model” to eliminate the lag and social awkwardness found in current AI chatbots. Ma noted that existing systems often feel unnatural because they rely on a multi-step process—connecting voice-to-text, large language models, and text-to-voice models—which creates delays and prevents real-time facial animation.

To address this, Nuance Labs is developing a full-duplex system. This technology integrates audiovisual perception to allow avatars to perceive and generate responses and reactions simultaneously, making face-to-face digital interactions feel more human and emotionally intelligent.