AI dubbing startup Dubformer has announced that it has raised USD 3.6m in seed funding. The round was led by Almaz Capital, with s16vc, FinSight, and AAL VC as key investors, along with angel investors such as Arul Menezes, a former Research Manager at Microsoft Translator, and Funa Maduka, former Head of International Original Film at Netflix.
The startup enhances media localization for TV, broadcast, and film through its emotion transfer technology.
Anton Dvorkovich, Founder & CEO of Dubformer, said “with Emotion Transfer, we capture the acoustic characteristics — such as echoes and reverberations — enhancing the overall experience. Our focus is on creating full immersion, making sure the dubbing never feels out of place.”
Dvorkovich told Slator that he plans on using the funding to “enhance Dubformer’s Emotion Transfer technology, introducing new features to reduce post-production efforts and enable fully automated solutions.” He confirmed that one client, SWEET.TV, used the company’s automated dubbing solution “to launch channels in Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and several other countries, with great success.”
“Photoshop for AI Dubbing”
Dvorkovich also told Slator that the company is on track to developing Dubformer Studio, currently in beta, which he described as the “Photoshop for AI dubbing”, which “aims to get 100% controllability over AI voices, especially emotions and intonation. While our technology significantly reduces post-editing efforts, some human input is still needed to adjust translation, pronunciation, intonation, etc,” he confirmed.
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The company’s technology enables users to input text prompts to direct the AI, audio prompts to demonstrate the desired tone and emotion, and phoneme-level editing to allow for adjustments to emotion and nuance.
“Early adopters like Collot Baca, a leading localization company, have successfully completed initial projects and secured larger contracts for film and TV localization. Given the strong market demand, we plan to refine this tool further and release it publicly in the near future,” he added.
Areas of Growth
Dvorkovich told Slator that “the biggest growth opportunities will be driven by the continuously increasing volume of personalized, ad-supported content being produced worldwide. Media companies are also expanding into regions like MENA, Africa, and the Balkans, where traditional localization methods are often avoided due to high cost.”
“As a result, advancements in AI-driven dubbing are making localization simpler and more cost-effective, enabling companies to enter markets that were previously economically unviable or underserved. Finally, the ongoing rise in global video production and consumption is creating a growing need for scalable, affordable dubbing solutions.”
The Founder & CEO also confirmed plans to roll out AI dubbing for real-time broadcasts.
Since the startup was launched in September 2023, Dubformer says it has reported 50% month-on-month growth. It has reportedly dubbed over 750k minutes of media content for media companies and content creators in the US and Europe, including Paramount, Little Dot Studios, and Mainstream Media.