Beyond Verbal Raises Funds, Launches Wellness API

Tel Aviv, Israel-based emotion analytics specialist Beyond Verbal has raised $3.3m in new funding, simultaneously launching the Beyond Wellness API, which will enable app developers and wearable device makers to add emotion sensing capabilities to their offerings.

Launched last year with rounds of $2.8m in seed funding and then a further $1m, the firm uses ten-to-fifteen second clips of speech, analyses voice modulation, and seeks specific patterns in the way people talk, in order to understand emotions like anger, anxiety, happiness or satisfaction. The proprietary software then picks up nuances in mood, attitude and decision-making characteristics.

According to CEO Yuval Mor (pictured), new funding has been led by previous investors Winnovation, SingulariTeam, and an unnamed firm in China, and brings the total amount raised to date to more than $7m.

Earlier this year, the firm launched an app called Moodies, to enable mobile users to extract, decode and measure human emotions from their voice in real-time as they speak. Its new Wellness API builds on this technology, to enable developers of health or fitness apps to spot trends in how peoples' emotional states change when they carry out activities such as exercise, and what triggers personal wellbeing. According to Beyond Verbal, the integration of voice will also enable developers to monitor emotional wellbeing over time, and resulting data can be assessed in relation to happiness, depression, and overall daily mindset.

Web site: www.beyondverbal.com .