Seattle voice AI startup Ultravox, formerly known as Fixie, acquired by Inworld

What happened

Inworld has acquired Seattle-based AI startup Ultravox for an undisclosed sum to enhance its real-time voice technology. Founded in 2022 as Fixie, the startup previously raised $17 million to build speech models capable of handling conversational turn-taking and interruptions.

The co-founders of Ultravox, which launched in 2022 as Fixie, from left: Hessam Bagherinezhad, Matt Welsh, Justin Uberti and Zach Koch. (Fixie Photo) Seattle voice AI startup Ultravox , which launched as Fixie , has been acquired by Inworld for an undisclosed sum.

In perhaps its most whimsical project, the startup launched the HiSanta.ai website in December 2023, allowing users to chat with Santa Claus, who spoke with a British accent, as well as Rudolph, Mrs. Ultravox was founded in 2022 by Google and Apple veterans to build a speech model for real-time, natural-sounding AI voice agents.