Vapi, founded in 2023 by CEO Jordan Dearsley and CTO Nikhil Gupta, has announced a $20 million Series A funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, alongside investments from Abstract Ventures, AI Grant, Y Combinator, Saga Ventures, and Michael Ovitz. As generative voice models rapidly approach human-level interaction—often passing a “voice Turing test”—enterprises need a platform that can help them seamlessly integrate these capabilities into their customer interactions, workflows, and services.
Vapi sets out to “bend the arc of technology back to the human voice” by giving developers the tools to deploy AI voice agents in minutes instead of months. This developer-first approach removes complexity, letting engineering teams focus on their core products. Through its flexible APIs and broad platform integrations, Vapi quickly transforms existing CRMs, EHRs, and telephony systems into immersive voice-enabled experiences.
Backed by Global Technology Investors
Bessemer Venture Partners, known for supporting innovative companies across various sectors—including Pinterest, Shopify, Twilio, Yelp, LinkedIn, and DocuSign—recognized Vapi’s unique potential from the start. With more than 145 IPOs and a portfolio of 300+ companies, Bessemer’s extensive track record and resources will help Vapi scale to meet global demand for advanced voice AI.
“We believe AI will fundamentally impact every vertical of the economy, with voice agents becoming a core interface for many applications,” said Byron Deeter, partner at Bessemer. “Vapi is emerging as the leading developer platform for conversational voice agents, redefining how people interact with technology.”
Rapid Growth and Widespread Adoption
In just six months since launching, Vapi scaled to millions in revenue by serving a diverse range of enterprises, from customer support and outbound sales to telehealth and food ordering. Companies like Mindtickle, Luma Health, Ellipsis Health, and Gestionadora de Créditos have harnessed Vapi to handle high call volumes seamlessly, demonstrate human-like responsiveness, and improve the overall caller experience.
This rapid market adoption reflects a growing need for AI voice agents that can scale without losing the warmth and nuance of the human voice. As Apple Intelligence and Google Gemini prepare to bring voice assistants to billions of people, Vapi ensures that developers have the infrastructure to keep up with this voice-first movement.
Developer-First Approach: Building Voice AI in Minutes
A core part of Vapi’s strategy is to empower developers. Instead of months spent piecing together complex systems, developers can now build, test, and deploy robust voice agents with low-latency response times and multilingual support.
- Inbound and Outbound Calls: Handle inbound inquiries or set up outbound call campaigns at scale.
- Voice Products and IoT: From SaaS support desks to IoT devices, Vapi’s stack plugs into numerous platforms.
- Flexible Integration: Mix and match preferred speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and LLM providers.
- No-Code and Server URL Quickstarts: Even teams with minimal voice AI experience can launch projects in a matter of minutes.
Driving Innovation Across Industries
Vapi’s adaptability makes it a fit for nearly any vertical:
- Healthcare and Telehealth: Appointment scheduling, patient FAQs, and prescription refills managed by voice agents.
- Travel and Hospitality: Reservations, bookings, and real-time customer queries handled in a natural, conversational style.
- Finance and Insurance: Policy inquiries, claims assistance, and secure account actions executed at scale.
- Retail and Food Services: Handling menu inquiries, order taking, and reservation confirmation seamlessly and efficiently.
According to CEO Jordan Dearsley, “Consumer-facing companies run on voice. To scale their revenue, they need to scale their voice operations. But, people don’t scale. With generative voice models, it’s flexible like a human and can scale to millions of calls.”
Technology That Speaks Like a Human
Under the hood, Vapi’s platform is built for performance and scalability:
- Sub-500ms Latency: Achieve near-instant responses through optimized GPU inference, caching, and high-performance networking.
- Natural Turn-Taking: Built-in interruption handling and endpointing models ensure voice agents listen and respond just like human operators.
- Global Infrastructure: A Kubernetes-based architecture and private internet backbone enable high availability and low-latency performance worldwide.
“Vapi is far ahead of any other platform—simple, powerful, and it just works,” said Marcelo Oliveira, SVP of Engineering at Luma Health.
Scaling Infrastructure and Engineering Talent
With the new funding, Vapi will expand its engineering team to further strengthen its real-time infrastructure and onboard new enterprise customers. By investing in top technical talent, Vapi ensures that its developer tools continue to evolve, constantly improving reliability, functionality, and usability. The company’s ultimate aim is to make voice AI as accessible and dependable as any other API in a modern developer’s stack.
Industry Endorsements and Market Validation
The excitement around Vapi is evident through endorsements from customers and partners like Groq, Relevance AI, and Deepgram. They praise Vapi’s responsiveness, ease of integration, and developer-focused support. From real-time voice sales agents to advanced training simulations and multilingual chat, these testimonials highlight the platform’s versatility and potential to shape how enterprises use voice technology.
By removing the friction of building from scratch, Vapi lets developers concentrate on their unique business logic. “I spent time at Stripe in 2012 and I saw what it takes to design and support a great API. This team has that kind of magic,” said Richard Burton, CEO of Balance IO.
Bending the Arc Back to the Human Voice
Vapi’s mission is rooted in the idea that voice should once again become the default interface—a natural, human way to interact with technology. Through its flexible APIs, industry-leading latency, and developer-first approach, Vapi delivers voice AI capabilities that feel as natural and responsive as any human conversation.
With the $20 million Series A in hand, Vapi stands poised to usher in a future where voice agents are as common and reliable as web or mobile interfaces. As enterprises across the globe look to scale their voice operations, Vapi provides the platform, tools, and guidance to help them build it—all in a matter of minutes.
