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Nuance Labs is building the first human foundation model that understands and expresses emotion in real-time, across speech, facial expression, and body language.
Nuance Labs has raised $10.0M across 1 funding round.
Nuance Labs has raised $10.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Nuance Labs has raised $10.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Nuance Labs's investors include Accel, UpHonest Capital, Y Combinator, Tom Blomfield.
Nuance Labs has raised $10.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $10.0M Seed in September 2025.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2025 | $10M Seed | — | Accel, UpHonest Capital, Y Combinator, TOM Blomfield | Announced |
Nuance Labs is a technology company pioneering the development of a human foundation model for real-time emotional intelligence in AI, enabling machines to understand and express emotions through speech, facial expressions, and body language. Their product aims to create emotionally intelligent conversational AI that interacts as naturally as humans do, addressing the current gap in AI’s ability to convey genuine presence and empathy. Nuance Labs serves developers and companies seeking to build more human-like AI companions, virtual therapists, tutors, and interactive characters, solving the problem of AI’s emotional flatness and lack of nuanced social interaction. The company has gained strong growth momentum, recently closing a $10 million seed funding round led by Accel, South Park Commons, and Lightspeed Venture Partners, positioning itself as a leader in next-generation emotional AI[1][3][4].
Nuance Labs was founded by two ex-Apple PhDs, Fangchang Ma and Edward Zhang, who previously worked on digital personas for Apple Vision Pro. The idea emerged from their experience with digital avatars and the recognition that AI needed to move beyond visual fidelity to real-time emotional and social intelligence. Early traction includes their ability to train models on specialized visual and audio tokens that efficiently capture emotional cues, enabling faster and more accurate real-time AI interactions than competitors relying on generalized large language models (LLMs). Their Seattle-based startup is focused on building a unified system that interprets and expresses human emotions in real time, with plans to offer their models via API to other companies[3][4][5].
Nuance Labs is riding the wave of increasing demand for emotionally intelligent AI, a critical next step beyond current large language models that excel at language but lack genuine social presence. The timing is crucial as AI applications expand into personal assistants, mental health, education, and entertainment, where emotional nuance is essential for user engagement and trust. Market forces favor innovations that humanize AI interactions, and Nuance’s approach of combining multi-modal emotional signals positions it uniquely to influence the evolution of AI companions and interactive agents. By advancing real-time emotional AI, Nuance Labs contributes to a broader ecosystem shift toward more empathetic and socially aware technology[1][3][4].
Looking ahead, Nuance Labs is poised to become a foundational player in emotional AI, potentially as influential as ChatGPT in conversational AI. Their next steps likely include expanding their team, refining their models, launching consumer-facing AI companion products, and enabling third-party integrations via APIs. Trends shaping their journey include advances in multi-modal AI, growing demand for personalized digital experiences, and ethical considerations around emotional AI use. As they scale, Nuance Labs could redefine human-computer interaction by making AI feel truly present and emotionally responsive, bridging the gap between technology and human connection[1][3][4].
