Rylo (formerly Nagish) raises $85M for AI accessibility communication
What's the deal? RyloDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → (formerly Nagish), a startup building communication software for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, has raised $85M at an estimated $500M valuation. The company's platform converts text to speech and speech to text, enabling users to hold conversations without relying on human interpreters.
The round was led by General Catalyst (via its Customer Value Fund) and Canaan, with participation from existing investors Cardumen CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Vertex VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, K5 Global and Contour Venture Partners. The raise brings Rylo's total funding to over $100M.
Rylo is also developing real-time sign language translation. The founders say they expect to reach a $100M annual revenue run rate by the end of 2026.
Why now? Advances in AI-powered speech recognition and natural language processing have made real-time conversion between text, speech, and sign language increasingly viable. For the roughly 430 million people worldwide with disabling hearing loss, these tools address a fundamental need: private, independent communication without a third party in the room.
The privacy angle is key — an interpreter's presence in sensitive conversations, whether medical, legal, or personal, has long been an unavoidable compromise for deaf individuals.
What could go wrong? Real-time sign language translation is a notoriously hard technical challenge. Sign languages are full visual languages with their own grammar, regional variations, and nuance — not simply word-for-word mappings of spoken language. Accuracy in high-stakes settings like healthcare or legal proceedings would need to be near-perfect to be trusted.
Competition is also a factor. Big tech companies including Google and Microsoft have invested heavily in accessibility tools, and could replicate core features at scale.
The signal: This raise reflects growing investor appetite for AI-driven accessibility tech — a market long underserved relative to its size. If Rylo hits its $100M revenue target, it would validate a model where assistive technology isn't a niche product but a mainstream business. The broader trend: AI is finally making it economically feasible to build products for communities that traditional software largely overlooked.
Read more: TheMarker · Rylo · Calcalist CTech
