Startup profile · funding coverage
Lyrebird funding, valuation and investors
AI voice cloning from minimal audio samples—acquired by Descript in 2019.
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Funding, valuation & investors
Answer-first snapshotLatest funding
Seed
Not fully disclosed · 2017
Latest known valuation
Not publicly disclosed
Total disclosed equity funding
Not publicly disclosed
Excludes debt, grants, acquisitions, secondaries, and IPO proceeds.
Current status
acquired
acquired · Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Investors in latest funding
Other: Andreessen Horowitz , Redpoint Ventures
Latest tracked event: Acquired by Descript (September 2019). It is shown separately because it is not counted as disclosed equity funding.
Overview
Lyrebird, founded by Montreal AI researchers including Alexandre de Brébisson, pioneered realistic voice synthesis from small audio samples—launching a public demo in 2017 that sparked ethics debates. The Y Combinator-backed startup was acquired by Descript in September 2019; Lyrebird's technology became Descript's Overdub feature for podcast and video editing. Andreessen Horowitz invested in Lyrebird's seed era per Voicebot reporting and subsequently co-led Descript's $15 million Series A in 2019 with Redpoint Ventures per TechCrunch—linking a16z to the voice stack twice.
Why Lyrebird is interesting
Montreal researchers made realistic synthetic voices from seconds of audio; Descript bought Lyrebird for Overdub while a16z later co-led Descript's Series A—voice cloning before ElevenLabs mainstream.
Product & use cases
Lyrebird's neural TTS models cloned voices from short recordings—enabling synthetic speech that matched tone and cadence for media and assistant applications.
- Podcast editing with synthetic voice correction (via Descript Overdub)
- Voice assistant personalization prototypes
- Media production when speakers unavailable for re-records
Key facts
- YC-backed voice cloning startup (2017 launch)
- Acquired Sep 2019 by Descript for Overdub feature (TechCrunch)
- a16z also co-led Descript $15M Series A same era (TechCrunch)
- Public demo raised ethics concerns pre-deepfake regulation wave
Funding history (newest first)
Acquired by Descript
2019-09 Not disclosedSource: https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/24/descript-acquires-lyrebird/
Seed
2017 Not fully disclosedSource: https://voicebot.ai/2017/04/24/lyrebird-raises-seed-funding-from-a16z/
Investors in our directory
Funds linked from Lyrebird's profile — open a fund page for stage focus and related deal articles.
Competitive landscape
Edge: Early mover in few-shot voice cloning quality—attracted Descript acquisition before ElevenLabs era.
Voice cloning moved from research demo to commodity API. Lyrebird's Descript exit was strategic for editing workflows; standalone cloning APIs now face deepfake regulation and crowded vendor landscape.
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ElevenLabs direct
Later-era voice cloning leader; post-Lyrebird founding.
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Google WaveNet / Amazon Polly incumbent
Platform TTS; less personalized cloning focus in 2017.
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Resemble.ai direct
Voice cloning APIs for developers.
Notable stories
- 2017 public demo let users synthesize speech from one minute of audio—viral and controversial (press coverage).
- Descript acquisition integrated cloning into podcast editor workflow—not standalone API scale path.
- Montreal AI ecosystem produced Lyrebird alongside later voice AI winners.
Industries
Related funding articles
Venture Capital Tracker pieces that cover Lyrebird's financing or category context.
FAQs about Lyrebird
Practical answers founders, operators, and investors typically search for.
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