A Paris-based startup specializing in voice AI models has reopened its seed funding round to welcome new backers, including Nvidia, and has now raised a total of $100 million for the round, the company announced Thursday. The fresh capital will be used to establish an office in the Bay Area and compete for top talent there, "strengthening its position at the heart of the world’s leading AI ecosystem," according to Gradium. Given that Paris is already a major European hub for artificial intelligence, this move represents a notable acknowledgment of the advantages that come with being close to industry giants like Anthropic, Google, Meta, and OpenAI.

Gradium originally emerged from stealth mode in December with $70 million from an impressive roster of investors, including FirstMark Capital, Eurazeo, DST Global Partners, Eric Schmidt, and French telecom billionaire Xavier Niel. The startup was spun out of the French AI lab Kyutai, which itself is backed by Niel. Both Kyutai and Gradium were co-founded by Neil Zeghidour, a researcher who previously worked at Google Brain, DeepMind, and Facebook.

The company focuses on developing audio models that deliver voice at scale with ultra-low latency. This means AI voices that respond almost instantly, avoiding the awkward pauses that often plague AI agent conversations. However, Gradium faces stiff competition from other voice AI startups like ElevenLabs—valued at $11 billion in February—as well as major model makers known for voice capabilities, such as Google's Gemini. Despite this crowded field, Gradium appears to be gaining traction. Since its December launch, the company says it has secured several major customers, including French automaker Renault.