Paris AI Voice Startup Gradium Nabs $100M Seed Round with Nvidia on Board

Gradium, a Paris-based company building next-generation voice AI models, has closed a $100 million seed round after reopening its fundraising to new backers-including chip giant Nvidia. The startup announced the milestone Thursday, marking one of the largest seed rounds in the European AI space.

The fresh capital will help Gradium open a Bay Area office and recruit top talent in Silicon Valley, a move the company says strengthens its foothold in the world's leading AI hub. While Paris is already a major center for AI innovation, Gradium's expansion signals the pull of being close to giants like Anthropic, Google, Meta, and OpenAI. The company originally launched from stealth in December with $70 million from investors including FirstMark Capital, Eurazeo, DST Global Partners, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and French telecom billionaire Xavier Niel.

Gradium was spun out of Kyutai, a French AI lab backed by Niel, and co-founded by Neil Zeghidour-a researcher with stints at Google Brain, DeepMind, and Facebook. The startup focuses on ultra-low-latency audio models that let AI voices respond almost instantly, eliminating the awkward pauses common in many AI agents. Despite stiff competition from rivals like ElevenLabs, which hit an $11 billion valuation in February, and Google's Gemini, Gradium has already landed major clients, including French automaker Renault.