The voice layer for computing — AI dictation that kills the keyboard
HQ: San Francisco, CA, United States | Founded: 2021 | Employees: 80–120 (est. 2026) | Stage: Series B ($2B valuation, Aug 2026) | Website: https://wisprflow.ai
Wispr Flow (Wispr AI Inc.) was founded in 2021 in San Francisco by Tanay Kothari (CEO) and Sahaj Garg (CTO) who met in a Stanford freshman dorm on day one. Both worked in Stanford's top AI labs (Andrew Ng, Stefano Ermon) and Kothari previously founded FeatherX (AI personalization). Wispr Flow is an AI voice dictation and voice OS: hold a hotkey and speak naturally — it transcribes with LLM-grade correction (auto-formatting, code, email tone, multilingual), then injects polished text into any app (Gmail, Notion, Slack, Cursor). Unlike meeting bots (Otter/Granola) or voice companions (Sesame), it replaces typing itself. After early stealth and a $25M round (Hanstein/Notable Capital, Stephen Bartlett, Nov 2025) on 10x ARR growth, Wispr announced $280M Series B at $2B in Aug 2026 led by Menlo Ventures with participation from Notable Capital, NEA, Neo, 8VC, MVP Ventures, Acrew, Forerunner and others — total $361M per company post.
Wispr Flow is the closest anyone has come to killing the keyboard: a whisper-accurate, context-aware dictation engine that fixes grammar, formatting and app-aware intent as you speak — not a transcription bot. Founded at Stanford in 2021 by Tanay Kothari (CEO, 4x founder, FeatherX) and Sahaj Garg (CTO, AI labs under Andrew Ng and Stefano Ermon), it 10x'd ARR in 5 months after a $25M round in late 2025 (Hanstein/Notable Capital) then stunned with a $280M Series B at $2B in Aug 2026 led by Menlo Ventures, bringing total to $361M. With Sequoia/Spark/Oculus voice bets nearby, Wispr's edge is raw utility — type by talking in any app — but it must survive OS-level bundling by Apple/Google/Microsoft who own the keyboard it wants to kill.
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