Q

Voice/Speech AI

Provides a seamless, private, and noise-immune human-computer interface by decoding intent from facial muscle movements and internal speech signals.

📍 Ramat Gan, Israel
📅 Founded 2022
👥 100
🌐 Visit Website

🔍 Company Overview

A stealth-mode AI startup developing 'silent speech' technology that enables users to communicate with devices through facial movements and subvocalization without making any audible sound.

📈 Current Stage
Acquired by Apple (Post-stealth integration)
🎯 Target Customers
Consumer electronics users, individuals with speech or vocal impairments, and professionals in high-noise or privacy-sensitive environments.
🏢 Industry Verticals
Consumer Electronics, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Accessibility & Assistive Technology, Defense & Secure Communications

👥 Leadership & Team

👤 CEO
Aviad Maizels
📊 Team Size
100
💼 CEO Experience
Aviad Maizels is a high-profile serial entrepreneur and former Apple executive. He is best known as the co-founder and CEO of PrimeSense, the Israeli 3D sensing company that developed the technology for Microsoft's Kinect and was acquired by Apple in 2013 for $360 million. Following the acquisition, Maizels spent nearly nine years at Apple as a Senior Director before founding Q in 2022. He also has a background in the Technical R&D Section of the Israel Ministry of Defense.
🌟 Key Team Members
Yonatan Wexler (Co-founder & CTO), Avi Barliya (Co-founder & Chief of Staff), Asher Avital (CFO), Yaara Vaserman Badner (VP HR)

🏆 Achievements & Milestones

  • • Founded in 2022 by the creators of PrimeSense (FaceID technology)
  • • Raised $160M in a massive Series B round in 2024
  • • Acquired by Apple for approximately $2 billion in January 2025

📦 Products & Solutions

Key Products
Silent Speech Recognition Engine, Facial Movement-to-Text Translation AI, Neural Audio Reconstruction Models, Subvocal Command Interface for Wearables
Unique Value Proposition
The ability to achieve high-accuracy 'speech' recognition without acoustic input, effectively allowing users to 'talk' to AI assistants silently in public or crowded spaces.

💡 Competitive Edge

Utilizes non-invasive 'silent speech' technology that decodes facial muscle movements and subvocalizations into text/audio using computer vision and neural signal processing, avoiding the need for brain implants or audible input.

Key Technological Advantage
Led by the core team that developed PrimeSense (the tech behind Microsoft Kinect and Apple's FaceID), the company leverages world-class expertise in computer vision, sensor fusion, and neural signal processing.

📈 Funding & Partnerships

Total Funding
$160.0M
Latest Round
Series B
Key Investors
Kleiner Perkins, Spark Capital, Aleph, Gradient Ventures, Matter Venture Partners, Exor
Partnerships
Apple (Acquirer and primary integration partner), Kleiner Perkins (Former Lead Investor), Spark Capital (Former Investor), Aleph (Former Investor)

📊 Growth & Traction

Growth Metrics
Scaled from founding to a $2 billion acquisition in under 3 years; grew team to 100+ specialized AI and hardware engineers while in stealth.
Notable Customers
Apple (Acquirer/Parent Company)
Category
Voice/Speech AI

💡 Innovation & Intellectual Property

Patents & IP
Proprietary IP related to subvocal recognition and facial motion tracking (specific patent filings are typically absorbed into Apple's portfolio post-acquisition).

📊 Market & Competition

Market Position
High-end stealth R&D leader in next-generation Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
Main Competitors
Meta (Reality Labs), Neuralink, Cognixion
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