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Echo Labs
Techstars '23Techstars '23San Francisco, US · Founded 2013 · Delaware corporation · 67 employees on LinkedIn · 5 known investors
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Echo Labs builds an AI-powered platform that generates ADA-compliant closed captions and audio descriptions for educational institutions. The platform targets universities and colleges seeking affordable accessibility solutions.
Also known as Echo · Echo Labs
Founders & leadership
Investors · 5
How we know: Dundee Venture Capital's portfolio page · funding news · the VCSheet dataset · Not right? Tell us
How we know: the Techstars portfolio · funding news · open dataset · Top 3000 Accelerator Startups (no YC) 2026-08 · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Transform Ventures's portfolio page · Not right? Tell us
How we know: a partner's Signal profile · Not right? Tell us
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements$1.5M disclosed across 1 of 2 rounds · 2014–2024
- Undisclosed amountpre-seedJan 2024 · 2 sourcesSource ↗
▶$1.5MraisedMar 2015 · 10 investors · OtherRule 506(b)
- Pierre-Jean CobutDirector
- Elad FerberDirector
- Eric ChenExecutive Officer, Director
- Offering amount
- $1.5M
- Amount sold
- $1.5M
- First sale
- Nov 2014
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware, 2013
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
Source: SEC EDGAR Form D. Amounts as filed; amended filings shown once at their latest values.
Company profile
researched Sep 2026Echo Labs operates an AI-powered media accessibility platform for higher education institutions. The product audits, captions and audio describes entire institutional video libraries, with a stated standard turnaround of 24 hours and output intended to meet Title II accuracy requirements and WCAG 2.1 AA standards. The company positions the service as an alternative to legacy captioning vendors at lower cost.
The platform connects to an institution's learning management system through a setup the company describes as taking about 10 minutes and three clicks, after which content is discovered and processed automatically without human intervention. Echo Labs markets integrations with a range of LMS and video platforms, and provides compliance reporting alongside the captions and audio descriptions it generates. Its underlying technical goal, as described in accelerator coverage, is real-time transcription of human-level quality even in adverse conditions such as high-noise environments, multiple speakers, or speakers with accents, second-language speakers, and people with disabilities.
Business model
Echo Labs sells an AI accessibility service to institutions, priced per minute of media processed. Its published rate is $0.75 per minute for captions, compared with the standard published rates it cites for 3Play Media ($2.50), Rev ($1.50) and Verbit ($3.00).
Per-minute pricing for captioning and audio description of institutional media.
Traction
Echo Labs launched an educational pilot program with a selected group of universities alongside its pre-seed raise, and references institutional users including the University of Hawaii.
Latest developments
The company announced Echo Labs v0.5, positioned for system-scale accessibility deployments, and publishes an ongoing product updates feed.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, history
Market position
Echo Labs competes with established captioning and transcription vendors including 3Play Media, Rev and Verbit, differentiating primarily on price and turnaround speed.
The company emphasizes fully automated processing without human transcription in the loop, a guaranteed 24-hour turnaround, minimal setup effort through LMS integration, and pricing it presents as roughly 75% below competing providers.
Technology
The platform applies AI speech-to-text and audio description generation to institutional media libraries, processing thousands of hours of content in parallel and returning results without human review. The company's stated technical objective is real-time transcription approaching human accuracy in difficult acoustic conditions, including multiple speakers and accented or non-native speech.
Go-to-market
Direct sales to institutions via website sales contact and meeting booking, supported by integrations with learning management systems and by an educational pilot program introducing the software to selected universities. The company also cites customer reviews on G2 and a testimonial from a web accessibility specialist at the University of Hawaii.
Universities, colleges and higher education systems subject to accessibility regulations, including ADA Title II and WCAG 2.1 AA requirements.
History
The company participated in Cohort 2 of the Transform accelerator run by the University of Chicago Data Science Institute, and announced a $7.4 million pre-seed round characterized as the largest pre-seed raise completed in Chicago. It has since released a v0.5 version of its accessibility platform.
Compiled by commissioned research from 6 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Related companies · 1
Companies working in the same space as Echo Labs.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsThe company announced Echo Labs v0.5, described on its website as built for system-scale accessibility.
Echo Labs, a participant in the University of Chicago Data Science Institute's Transform Cohort 2 accelerator, announced the close of a $7.4 million funding round, described as the largest pre-seed raise completed in Chicago.
$7.4M source ↗
The company launched a pilot program to introduce its transcription and accessibility software to a selected group of universities.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
Legal entities · 1
corporate structure▸Research sources · 6
primary sources listed
- Echo Labsel.ai · web
6 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Echo Labs do?
- Echo Labs provides AI-generated captions and audio descriptions for higher education video libraries at institutional scale.
- Who are Echo Labs's investors?
- Echo Labs's investors include Chicago Early Growth Ventures (CEGV), Dundee Venture Capital, Techstars, Transform Ventures, Basis Set Ventures.
- How much funding has Echo Labs raised?
- Echo Labs has disclosed $1.5M raised across 1 of its 2 known rounds.
- Where is Echo Labs headquartered?
- Echo Labs is headquartered in San Francisco, US.