December 2, 2025

Executive Summary

French startup Gradium emerged from stealth with a $70 million seed round led by FirstMark Capital and Eurazeo to build ultra‑low‑latency AI voice models. Founded in September 2025 by former Google DeepMind researcher Neil Zeghidour, Gradium claims its models respond almost instantly and support multiple languages. The company enters a crowded field but hopes its speed and multilingual capabilities will set it apart.

Full Article

Paris‑based Gradium spun out of French AI lab Kyutai and on December 2 announced a $70 million seed round to commercialize its voice AI technology. Investors include FirstMark Capital, Eurazeo, Kyutai backer Xavier Niel, DST Global Partners and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Such a large seed round signals investor confidence in voice as the next frontier for AI.

Gradium’s pitch is simple: voice models should be fast enough to feel human. The startup says its audio models deliver responses with ultra‑low latency, making them suitable for real‑time conversations. Unlike many competitors, Gradium launched with multilingual support, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese, with more languages on the way. Founder Neil Zeghidour previously worked on speech models at Google DeepMind, giving the team deep technical chops.

The market for voice AI is increasingly crowded. OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Mistral and ElevenLabs all offer voice or speech models. Gradium believes differentiation will come from speed and realism, positioning its models as a platform for AI agents and entertainment experiences. For entrepreneurs building voice‑enabled products, Gradium’s emergence highlights the importance of latency, multilingual support and investor backing.

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date with the latest breakthroughs in AI, Business, Technology, and Mindset.