Elredo Voice raises €1M to bring AI audiobook production to US publishers

What's the deal? JIC VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has led a funding round of more than €1 million in Elredo VoiceDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Czech startup that uses AI to produce and distribute audiobooks for publishers. The money will fund the company's expansion into the US.

Who's in? The round drew investor Jiří Hlavenka, the Central Bohemian Innovation CentreDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Sweden's Bond VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, plus existing backers Petr Sochora of 12bulletsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Petr Bláha of Eurowag, and Martin Ježek. Elredo also secured a €200,000 grant from CzechInvest's Technology Incubation programme.

What's the endgame? Founded in 2023, Elredo builds the full infrastructure for producing audiobooks and getting them to listeners. Its AI cuts the cost and time of production and simplifies localisation, making it viable to voice titles — and entire back catalogues — that never justified traditional methods.

Why now? "Demand for audiobooks is growing faster than conventional production can keep up with, and we want to help publishers solve that technological challenge," said founder and chief executive officer Matt Schmalz.

The expansion: Elredo is crossing the Atlantic to reach publishers, not listeners — the US holds the world's densest concentration of them. It has already moved part of its commercial, production, and support teams to New Jersey.

Its clients already include Wiley and HarperCollins, alongside Czech houses Albatros MediaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Euromedia GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The company distributes to more than 160 sales channels and is building capacity for hundreds of audiobooks a month, aiming for up to 1,000 titles monthly.

The signal: Audiobooks are among the fastest-growing segments of the book market, and the economics of AI production are drawing early-stage capital. For JIC Ventures, which launched in April 2026 and plans to back around 20 Central and Eastern European startups, the bet rests on the founder. "Matt has exceptional drive and a clear business focus," said managing partner Miloš Sochor, noting Schmalz is now eyeing Arabic-speaking markets too.