Voicea
Acquired7 known investors
Creator of EVA, an Enterprise Voice Assistant that enhances meeting productivity through AI and speech recognition.
Also known as Rizio Inc. · Rizio, Inc. dba Voicea · Voicera
Investors · 7
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Voicea (legally Rizio Inc., doing business as Voicea, and previously known as Voicera) developed EVA, an "Enterprise Voice A.I." in-meeting assistant. EVA joined web conference calls, one-to-one phone calls and in-person meetings, listened and took notes, and identified important moments and action items. After a meeting it automatically distributed a recap that participants could review, edit and share with colleagues, connecting meeting content to the rest of a team's collaboration workflow.
The company's real-time product combined artificial intelligence with automated speech recognition to deliver meeting transcription, voice search and meeting highlights/action items, with an emphasis on data privacy. Cisco characterized the offering as a market-leading real-time solution that goes beyond basic transcription, and positioned it within its Cognitive Collaboration vision for the Webex portfolio.
Voicea was founded in 2016 by several Silicon Valley technology leaders; three of its four co-founders, including CEO Omar Tawakol, are of Egyptian origin. In April 2018 the company acquired Dubai-based voice-to-text meeting note-taking startup Wrappup, whose three co-founders (Rami Salman, Ayush Chordia and Rishav Jalan) joined Voicea. Cisco announced its intent to acquire Voicea in August 2019 and completed the transaction in September 2019, with the team moving into the Webex portfolio organization.
Founding story
Voicea was founded in 2016 by a group of Silicon Valley technology leaders. Three of the four co-founders, including chief executive Omar Tawakol, are of Egyptian origin.
Latest developments
Cisco completed its acquisition of Voicea on 6 September 2019, after announcing its intent on 6 August 2019; financial terms were not disclosed. The Voicea team joined Cisco's Webex portfolio organization, and the technology was intended to add AI- and ASR-based transcription to Cisco's Webex products as part of its Cognitive Collaboration strategy.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Cisco described Voicea as the creator of a market-leading real-time meeting transcription, voice search and highlights solution, and said the technology would allow Webex to move past basic transcription services. Cisco noted that its collaboration customers include 95 percent of the Fortune 500, that more than 130 million people use Webex monthly and that more than 360 million meetings occur on Webex annually.
Technology
The product blended artificial intelligence with automated speech recognition (ASR) to deliver real-time meeting transcription, voice search and automatically extracted meeting highlights and action items, with an emphasis on robust data privacy. EVA was designed to join any meeting format, including web conferences, one-to-one calls and in-person meetings, and to generate post-meeting recaps that could be edited and shared.
Go-to-market
Enterprise teams that hold frequent meetings and want meeting content connected to their collaboration workflow; following the acquisition the technology was aimed at Cisco Webex customers.
Geography
Headquartered in Mountain View, California at the time of the Cisco acquisition; earlier listed with a headquarters in Menlo Park, California. Through the Wrappup acquisition the company added a team originally based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
History
Founded in 2016 and based in California, Voicea was previously known as Voicera and operated legally as Rizio Inc. In April 2018 it acquired Dubai-based AI voice-to-text note-taking startup Wrappup, founded in 2015, whose full team including co-founders Rami Salman, Ayush Chordia and Rishav Jalan joined Voicea; deal terms were not disclosed and some Wrappup investors took Voicea stock rather than cash. Cisco announced its intent to acquire Voicea on 6 August 2019 and completed the acquisition on 6 September 2019, folding the team into its Webex portfolio group led by senior vice president and general manager Sri Srinivasan.
Compiled by commissioned research from 4 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.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsCisco announced completion of its acquisition of Voicea (Rizio Inc.), with the team joining the Webex portfolio organization led by SVP and GM Sri Srinivasan.
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced its intent to acquire privately held Voicea, headquartered in Mountain View, California, to add AI- and ASR-based meeting transcription, voice search and highlights to its Webex portfolio. The deal was expected to close in the first quarter of Cisco's fiscal 2020; financial terms were not disclosed.
Voicea acquired Wrappup, a Dubai-based AI voice-to-text meeting note-taking startup founded in 2015. Terms were undisclosed; Wrappup's three co-founders Rami Salman, Ayush Chordia and Rishav Jalan joined Voicea, and some Wrappup investors elected to receive Voicea stock instead of cash.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 4
primary sources listed
- Voicea Partner Bio | Workday Venturesventures.workday.com · web
4 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Voicea do?
- Voicea built EVA, an AI meeting assistant for transcription and action items; acquired by Cisco in 2019.
- Who are Voicea's investors?
- Voicea's investors include Cisco Investments, Dubai Angel Investors, Greycroft, GV (Google Ventures), Mindset Venture, Rising Tide, Workday Ventures.