A U.K.-based speech recognition startup has expanded into the U.S. and picked Denver as its first stateside home.
Speechmatics, a company specializing in any-context speech recognition technology, will soon move into its first U.S. office in Denver to capitalize on major U.S. export growth.
It marks the Cambridge company’s third overseas office expansion in three months, following its recent moves into the Czech Republic and India. The company said this move caps off a year in which it has doubled its revenue and workforce.
Speechmatics' technology processes millions of hours per month for any live or recorded media, with speech recognition that understands subtle differences in intention, dialect or nuance.
With sales to the U.S. already accounting for 43% of the company’s revenues, this move enables the company to put its first employees on the ground in the country.
"We are really excited to be setting up in Denver. The city is considered to be one of only five or six places in the United States for a deep technology business like Speechmatics to set up an office," John Milliken, CEO of Speechmatics, told Colorado Inno. "It has an incredible international reputation for doing business because of the commercial and technical talent that is available; the city has a great feel and we have been made really welcome by everyone we have met."
Speechmatics has not yet moved into its Denver office and the company didn't share a firm timeline of when the move will occur or how many employees it anticipates will work out of Denver.
The company's major U.S. clients include Adobe and Vonage, and Milliken said he's hopeful this move furthers Speechmatics' U.S. reputation.
"We are proud to say that we already generate around 50% of our revenues in the United States and expect this to grow considerably over the coming years. We are currently hiring at about the same rate in the United States as in the U.K. and plan to establish a significant presence across a range of roles (sales executives, account executives, inside sales and technical support analysts) to support the market opportunity," he said.
Speechmatics’ U.S. expansion was supported by the Department of International Trade as part of a government drive to boost British tech exports to markets such as the U.S.
“It’s great seeing innovative U.K. brands like Speechmatics taking advantage of the golden trading opportunities across the Atlantic, giving Americans access to the best British products," International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.
Speechmatics' Pieter Knight, an executive in strategic sales and business development, is heading the U.S. sales operation from Denver and coordinating the company's move to the city.
