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Even in my wildest dreams, I never believed that Verbit would be worth$2 billion just five years after it was founded. When comparing 2020 to 2021, we saw a sixfold surge in revenue and ended the year with an annual revenue of $100 million. These are numbers that make the daily risks and continuous drive needed to be an entrepreneur fully worthwhile.
This path is already more than I could have ever asked for, and I’m greatly honored to be selected as one of the 10 Most Inspiring Business Leaders to Follow in 2022.
A bit about me
I founded Verbit, the world’s leading AI-based transcription and captioning platform in 2017, after leaving my career as a lawyer. I wanted to pursue my entrepreneurial aspirations and deliver on an idea that came to me to reinvent the inefficient transcription process I encountered while practicing law. Since then, I’ve acquired international experience in all aspects of the tech company lifecycle, from the startup foundation stage to raising tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue.
It’s been exciting to play an instrumental role in building new businesses and setting the goto-market plan for them, as well as developing and launching industry-leading products and technologies. I’ve learned a great deal about executing high-growth business plans, launching strategic partnerships and M&As. Verbit has gone through two of these recently, acquiring VITAC and Automatic Sync Technologies, and the ride has been equally challenging and thrilling.
When I’m not talking Verbit, I’m an active investor in the likes of IronSource, Outbrain, Jfrog, Roundforest, Datadog (IPO stage), Snowflake (IPO stage), and Ncino (IPO stage). I hold an LL.B. & B.A. (Cum Laude) from IDC Herzliya and an MBA from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. I also served in the Israel Defence Forces as a warrior and paramedic for the special forces unit of the paratroopers. I’ve been able to take these diverse experiences – ranging from soldier to investor – and apply these strategies to lead Verbit through a period of hypergrowth and maturity.
A bit about Verbit
Simply put, Verbit offers captioning, transcription, audio description and translation tools based on AI. They support the accessibility needs of today’s consumers, professionals, learners, government agencies and others. Verbit is emerging as a leader in voice AI and is unique in that it harnesses the power of both AI and human intelligence.
We employ 35,000+ professional transcribers to edit our AI’s work. This process improves our AI each time, but also guarantees that 99%+ accurate captions and transcripts are provided to our users – essential for equity. Ones that aren’t accurate can do more harm than good, often causing confusion or making businesses look unprofessional. And while some video and social platforms have automatic captioning built in, the results are far from accurate and definitely don’t adhere to Americans with Disabilities Act benchmarks for accessibility.
Verbit is designed to change that, offering AI that’s trained on specific verticals and customer needs to provide incredible results. Additionally, Verbit’s platform and AI offers users tremendous scale, allowing us to quickly caption countless audio and video files in a way that simply can’t be done manually or in-house. The result ensures all individuals with disabilities can consume the content. Yet what’s defining our mission going forward is how many others, aside from those with disabilities, can benefit or prefer captions and written records coming out of their meetings, classes and events.
Our vision going forward
The shift is clear – we’re going from meeting accessibility needs alone to showcasing the sheer number of individuals and use cases which can find great value in captioning and transcription. We’re helping companies proactively consider AI-based technologies not only because some people need them to participate and aren’t raising their hands, but because the benefits for everyone are evident.
From better engagement and information retention when watching video with captions to leveraging verbal content for business opportunities, the possibilities are vast. We’re aiming to educate the market that Verbit’s AI + human process can not only help to tick the accessibility box with ease, but help them make life easier with the ability to access transcripts that are actionable and searchable.
With more work and education happening remotely, captions and transcripts are two elements Verbit can help with to keep communication channels clear. COVID has accelerated the lasting need for voice AI solutions to make sure messages are delivered clearly when we’re on Zoom and not face-to-face. Verbit’s voice AI technology offers the means to make all virtual classes, employee training, town halls, events and podcasts accessible live, but also actionable after the fact. Students and professionals can reference our transcripts to skip immediately to important parts they want to reference, pull quotes easily to write articles like this one, study more effectively and just retain information better overall.
You might be able to tell that I’m a classic entrepreneur who doesn’t lack passion for the technology I’m living and breathing. But while it’s exciting to have created an AI with the ability to revolutionize the $30B transcription industry, it also comes down to making people’s lives a bit easier during the pandemic and after it – whether they have disabilities, are participating in Zoom calls with a newborn sleeping next to them (oh, I can relate) or simply want to go back and review notes from a client call without needing to relisten to the 1-hour meeting. In hopes of not sounding self-serving, Verbit can help you tackle all of that.
In 2022, we’re increasing our investment in product development and continuing Verbit’s vertical and geographical expansion. My goal and my team’s goal is to impact more people, to educate them on both the necessity and helpfulness of these technologies and provide them with the best-in-class options on the market that tick all of their boxes.
Don’t just follow me – follow AI
While I’m fully flattered that Inc Magazine is encouraging you to follow me in 2022, I’d also encourage you to follow the trends we’re seeing in AI. Artificial Intelligence has evolved far from just a shiny tool that can make your routine easier. Investments in AI are at an all-time high. PwC reported that 52% of business leaders have accelerated their AI adoption plans in the wake of COVID-19, and 86% said AI became a “mainstream technology” at their company. 25% expect to increase revenue as a direct result of using AI in their processes. As of July, investors had poured $29.5 billion into AI startups in 2021, according to PitchBook.
Verbit has been fortunate to witness these investments firsthand, seeing our customer base grow to 2,000+ and closing our Series E funding round at $250 million in Q4/21. Our valuation is now more than $2 billion, with this investment coming just months after Verbit raised its Series D funding of $157 million in May 2021.
The demand for AI-based solutions to solve common challenges and time-consuming manual tasks is high, and I’m excited that investors and the press are seeing what Verbit is truly capable of achieving. Our promise to them is to create a digital transformation for the $30 billion transcription market with our voice AI technology.
AI is at the core of Verbit, and I encourage you to make it a key element of your business as well, with so many AI-based tools now available to you to make your job easier, collect and analyze more data, reach greater audiences, communicate more effectively with remote teammates and host virtual and global events.
I’m excited to see what’s in store for not just AI, but the greater tech community and witness all that will be accomplished in 2022. As an entrepreneur, I live by being agile and teachable, and I look forward to seeing what these other 9 business leaders named by Inc Magazine can teach me and my team based on their 2022 success stories as well.
