Kotoba Technologies, a Seattle- and Tokyo-based company specializing in real-time speech-generation AI, has raised USD 11.83 million in a Seed 2 round.
Investors
The round was led by Globis Capital Partners and Boost Capital, with participation from SIP Capital and prominent U.S.–Japan angel investors.
Globis Capital Partners (GCP) is a Tokyo-based venture capital firm founded in 1996 as part of the Globis Group. The firm primarily invests in early- to growth-stage companies in Japan across various sectors, including technology, consumer, business, and frontier industries.
Boost Capital is a Japan-based investment firm that supports entrepreneurs. Founded in 2024, the company has invested in a range of Japanese startups in IT services, healthcare, and electronics sectors. It provides support in business development, acquisitions, and human resources to its portfolio companies.
Kotoba Technologies Use of Funds
The company will use the funding to hire AI engineers, advance model development, ramp up commercialization efforts, and expand global operations.
About Kotoba Technologies
Founded in October 2023 by Dr. Hiroyuki “Nori” Kojima and Dr. Jungo Kasai, Kotoba Technologies develops state-of-the-art real-time speech-generation AI to break down language barriers. Its optimized models include Kotoba-Whisper (Japanese ASR) and Kotoba-Speech (TTS/voice cloning), and its products include the DOTSU simultaneous interpretation app. With offices in both Japan and the U.S., Kotoba Technologies’ mission is to build and deliver cutting-edge real-time speech-generation AI to the world.
Funding Details
Company: Kotoba Technologies, Inc.
Raised: $11.83M
Round: Seed 2
Funding Date: June 2025
Lead Investors: Globis Capital Partners, Boost Capital
Additional Investors: SIP Capital, Joi Ito, Thomas Wolf, Toru Shimada, Luke Zettlemoyer, Noah Smith
Company Website: https://www.kotoba.tech/
Software Category: Real-time Speech Generation / Speech-to-Speech AI
Source: https://www.kotoba.tech/en/news-all/we-have-raised-usd-1183-million-jpy-17-billion-in-a-seed-2-round-to-accelerate-commercialization