Artavazd Minasyan, CTO Krisp

Artavazd Minasyan, CTO

Davit Baghdasaryan, CEO

The AI-powered, award-winning startup you need on your next Zoom call

It’s an experience that just about anyone in the world has gone through in the last few years.

You’re on a video call, and your coworkers, clients, friends, or family can’t hear what you’re trying to say. There’s a dog barking in the background, a door slamming shut, or a loved one whipping up a home-cooked meal in the next room.

That’s where Krisp, the world’s number one noise canceling app, comes in. Just turn on Krisp, and, powered by the app’s award-winning software, your calls suddenly become crystal clear.

“Before Krisp, there was no other technology that worked well on all types of noises,” says co-founder Artavazd Minasyan. “Our innovation was to build a deep neural network that is trained to recognize the human voice.”

Artavazd first came up with the idea that became Krisp around five years ago, when he was complaining about noise on conference calls with a good friend, Davit Baghdasaryan.

In a few months’ time, Artavazd and Davit, taking advantage of their background in physics and mathematics, had developed a rough version of the software that now forms Krisp’s core.

Unlike other noise cancellation services that rely on what’s called digital signal processing, Krisp uses machine learning and AI to distinguish human voices from all other forms of noise.

That means Krisp knows when you’re talking — and can block out dogs barking, doors slamming, and the clatter of your loved ones making your favorite meal.

Since its founding as a small tech startup in 2017, Krisp has exploded in popularity, winning praise from Forbes and Time magazines, expanding to a team of 180 employees, and providing noise cancellation services to 2,800 companies around the world.

And, Artavazd says, they’d never have gotten to where they are today without support from Granatus Ventures.

“In our case, it was crucial to raise capital from venture capital firms and angel investors. And Granatus was among the first VCs to invest in our company,” he says. “If we hadn’t been able to raise that first round of money, we basically wouldn’t have been able to build a company.”

Granatus also helped the fledgling company build an international network of potential investors and prospective clients. “Those early introductions were vital for the company,” Artavazd insists.

Leveraging its innovative and unique use of machine learning and AI, Krisp has since raised upwards of $14 million from Granatus and other venture capital firms around the world.

Looking forward, Artavazd says Krisp is now working to develop and promote background voice cancellation technology, which would distinguish the main speaker’s voice from background voices and mute them.

“We think this is a huge idea. We think this will be a huge app. And every professional in the world will need it in the next five years,” he tells us on Zoom.

And if the crystal clear sound quality of the video call is any indication, he just might be right.