Nuance Labs, a Seattle-based artificial intelligence startup developing a foundational AI model designed to perceive and respond to real-time human expression, raised $50 million in Series A funding.
Founded in early 2025 by former Apple PhD researchers Fangchang Ma, Edward Zhang, and Karren Yang, the research lab is developing a single “full-duplex” foundation model designed to process and generate conversational cues simultaneously.
Unlike traditional setups that chain together separate tools for transcription, text generation, and voice or animation, Nuance’s model ingests live audiovisual signals like tone, gaze, and timing to stream real-time facial and vocal responses.
Existing avatars and voice tools fail because they force humans to adapt to the machine rather than the other way around, according to Ma, Nuance’s CEO.
“The most productive collaboration comes from being able to express yourself freely, in words, tone, gesture, and expression, the way you would with a friend or close colleague, with all the nuance in the back-and-forth that turns talking into understanding,” Ma said in a news release. “That’s what we’re building at Nuance Labs: AI that understands the many ways we express ourselves and responds the way a person does, in the moment.”
In a demo video accompanying the announcement (below), the startup showcased an avatar built to function as an active listener, adjusting its facial expressions and verbal cues dynamically as the user speaks.
Zhang, Nuance’s CTO, earned his PhD in computer graphics from the University of Washington and met Ma at Apple’s engineering office in Seattle. The two spoke to GeekWire last fall about building in Seattle rather than Silicon Valley and how they want Nuance “to be the premier research lab in Seattle.”
The startup plans to release a public research preview of its model later this year, giving users their first hands-on test of the interactive face-to-face avatar. Nuance targets applications where real-time human expression drives outcomes, including sales, customer service, professional coaching, and education.
Returning investor Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, which also included participation from existing backers Accel and South Park Commons, alongside new investments from NVIDIA and Define Ventures.
The financing brings Nuance Labs’ total capital raised to $60 million following its $10 million seed round last year.
Nuance, which lists 24 employees on its website, plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate model development and hire researchers and engineers across modeling, data, evaluation, and real-time serving as it expands its team.
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