Meta just picked up WaveForms AI, a buzzy audio startup working on emotionally intelligent voice generation. The deal was announced August 8, but terms weren’t disclosed. WaveForms had raised $40 million in seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz last year, with a reported valuation between $160 million and $200 million.
The startup was founded by Alexis Conneau, an AI audio researcher with stints at OpenAI and Meta, and Coralie Lemaître, a former ad strategist at Google. Both are expected to join Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, where the company is building out its next-gen AI stack.
WaveForms is Meta’s second voice AI acquisition in a month, following its buyout of Play AI, which focused on real-time, humanlike voice synthesis. Meta’s also been scooping up AI talent from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Apple—including speech tech veteran Johan Schalkwyk.
All of this points to a clear goal: giving AI voices more range, realism, and emotion. Meta wants its voice systems to feel more human—across VR, AR, and social tools—and WaveForms’ tech could become a key piece of that puzzle.