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Draft:Rylo (fka Nagish)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Draft:Nagish)
  • Comment: The current citations don't really indicate external significant coverage, they're mostly press releases or primary sources. WP:TEAHOUSE might be able to help you with this. Smallangryplanet (talk) 15:14, 1 December 2025 (UTC)
  • Comment: In accordance with the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use, I disclose that I have been paid by my employer for my contributions to this article. AmitMY (talk) 09:48, 1 December 2025 (UTC)
Rylo
FormerlyNagish
TypePrivate
IndustryAccessibility technology; Telecommunications; Artificial intelligence
Founded2021
FoundersTomer Aharoni; Alon Ezer
Headquarters
New York City
,
United States
Websiterylo.com

Rylo (formerly Nagish; Hebrew: נגיש, lit. 'accessible') is an American-Israeli accessibility technology company that develops automated relay, captioning, and sign-language communication tools for deaf and hard-of-hearing users. Its products use automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech technology to support telephone calls and other communication settings.[1][2][3] The company provides Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-certified Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service (IP CTS) and Internet Protocol Relay (IP Relay) services in the United States.[4]

The company began as a Columbia University student project and launched as Nagish in 2021.[5][6] In June 2026, the FCC granted Nagish, Inc. full certification to provide both IP CTS and IP Relay on a fully automated basis, making the company eligible for reimbursement from the Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) Fund through June 9, 2031.[4] The same month, the company rebranded from Nagish to Rylo and announced US$85 million in new funding. CTech by Calcalist reported that the round valued the company at approximately US$500 million and brought total funding to US$101 million.[1] Rylo has offices in New York City and Tel Aviv.[5][7]

History

[edit]

Origins and launch

[edit]

Nagish originated in 2019 as a project developed by Columbia University computer science students Tomer Aharoni and Alon Ezer, who used cloud-based speech-to-text and text-to-speech APIs to prototype an accessible phone-calling application.[8][9] A contemporaneous Columbia University Computer Science article reported that Aharoni presented Nagish at Google Cloud Next ’19 after the project began as a hack to transcribe a voice message while he was in class.[10] The same article reported that the project won second place and a social-good award at Columbia’s DevFest hackathon and later received Google Cloud support.[10]

Aharoni later told Jewish News Syndicate that the idea came after he received a phone call during a Columbia class and began considering how a person who could not hear or speak would conduct a private phone call.[5] According to Entrepreneur, the founders worked on the project for about two and a half years before turning it into a company, incorporating feedback from members of the deaf community.[6]

Nagish officially launched in 2021.[5][7] In interviews, Aharoni described the company’s early focus as reducing reliance on third parties such as interpreters, captioners, stenographers, relay operators, or family members during telephone conversations.[6] Israeli health and accessibility outlet Camoni also profiled the platform, focusing on privacy, independence, and reduced reliance on human intermediaries for deaf and hard-of-hearing users.[11]

In 2022, Nagish raised a US$5 million seed round from investors including Vertex Ventures Israel, Cardumen Capital, Contour Venture Partners, Precursor Ventures, and Comcast Ventures.[12] In 2026, Entrepreneur reported that the seed round followed 99 investor meetings and 77 rejections, based on Aharoni’s account of the fundraising process.[6]

Conditional FCC certifications

[edit]

In January 2024, the FCC granted Nagish conditional certification to provide fully automated IP CTS.[13][14] The certification authorized Nagish to provide IP CTS using automated speech recognition rather than human communications assistants.[13][4] NoCamels reported that the app provided real-time speech-to-text and text-to-speech services for phone conversations and had offices in Tel Aviv and New York.[14] Following the certification, CTech by Calcalist reported that the app had gained thousands of new users.[15]

In July 2024, Nagish raised an US$11 million Series A round led by Canaan Partners, bringing total funding to US$16 million. CTech by Calcalist reported that participating investors included K5 Global, Tokyo Black, Cardumen Capital, Vertex Ventures Israel, Contour Venture Partners, Precursor Ventures, and the founders of Datadog and Looker.[16] AlleyWatch also reported the Series A round and described Nagish as an accessibility platform providing AI-powered real-time captioning, speech-to-text, and text-to-speech for phone calls.[17][12][18]

The FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau granted Nagish conditional certification to provide fully automated IP Relay in December 2024, with the FCC announcing the grant in January 2025.[19][4] The certification allowed Nagish to provide IP Relay using automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech technology.[19][4] The Daily Moth reported on the IP Relay certification in March 2025, describing Nagish as an AI-based relay option for deaf and hard-of-hearing users and interviewing a company representative about the service and reimbursement through the TRS Fund.[20][21]

In January 2026, Jewish News Syndicate reported that Aharoni said hundreds of thousands of people, mostly in the United States, used the app daily. The same article reported that Nagish had made the service available in Israel after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, where it remained free and was not monetized.[5]

Acquisition of sign.mt

[edit]

In October 2025, Nagish acquired sign.mt, a Switzerland-based company developing real-time sign language recognition and translation technology.[22][23][24] CTech by Calcalist reported that the deal was valued at several million dollars and was completed through a combination of cash and stock.[22] sign.mt was founded by Israeli researcher Dr. Amit Moryossef, who joined Nagish as head of research after the acquisition.[22][5] The Jerusalem Post reported that the acquisition was part of Nagish’s expansion into AI research for sign-language accessibility.[23]

Full FCC certification, rebrand, and 2026 funding

[edit]

On June 9, 2026, the FCC granted Nagish, Inc. full certification to provide both IP CTS and IP Relay on a fully automated basis. The grant replaced the company’s previous conditional authorizations and made Nagish eligible to receive TRS Fund compensation for five years, through June 9, 2031.[4] The FCC public notice stated that the grant authorized fully automated IP CTS using automatic speech recognition and fully automated IP Relay using automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech technology.[4] The FCC also stated that, because Nagish offered only fully automated IP CTS and IP Relay, it did not employ communications assistants or operate call centers for those services.[4]

The same month, Nagish rebranded as Rylo. In its rebrand announcement, the company said the new name was intended to evoke both "relay" and "rely" and used the tagline "the relay service you can rely on."[25] CTech by Calcalist reported Aharoni’s explanation that Nagish had been chosen quickly when the project was still a side project, and that the company later changed names after finding that many U.S. users did not know how to pronounce it.[1] The company also changed its public website from nagish.com to rylo.com and renamed the Nagish app as Rylo Phone.[25]

Alongside the rebrand, Rylo announced US$85 million in new funding.[1][3][7][2][26][27][28][29][30] CTech by Calcalist reported that the round was led by General Catalyst and Canaan, with participation from investors including Cardumen, Vertex, Precursor, and K5, and that it valued the company at approximately US$500 million.[1] Business Wire reported that the financing included growth funding from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund and new investment led by Canaan, with participation from existing investors including Vertex Ventures and Contour.[7] MobiHealthNews reported that the funding was intended to support the company’s expansion from phone-call captioning into a broader AI-powered communication platform for deaf and hard-of-hearing users.[3] Slator covered the round in the context of AI language and accessibility technologies.[2] CTech reported that the round brought total funding to US$101 million and that Rylo had 32 employees, about half of them in Israel.[1]

Products and services

[edit]

Rylo’s products use automated speech recognition to convert speech into text and text-to-speech technology to vocalize typed responses.[1][2] Its phone product, Rylo Phone, supports inbound and outbound calls and allows users to read captions, type responses, or speak during calls.[1][25][5] AlleyWatch reported in 2024 that the product worked with existing phones and included features such as personal dictionaries, saved transcripts, and call filters.[17] In a 2025 interview with Unite.AI, Aharoni described Nagish as an AI-powered communication platform using real-time captioning and text-to-speech while allowing users to keep their existing phone number and manage conversations with features such as personalized dictionaries, saved transcripts, and device integration.[31]

The company’s FCC certification covers fully automated IP CTS using automatic speech recognition and fully automated IP Relay using automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech technology.[4] Eligible U.S. residents with hearing or speech disabilities can use Rylo’s FCC-certified relay services at no cost, with reimbursement paid to certified providers through the TRS Fund.[4][2][20] The FCC states that the TRS Fund compensates eligible providers of Internet-based and interstate relay services for the reasonable costs of providing those services.[4]

CTech by Calcalist reported in 2026 that Rylo’s platform supported 50 languages and focused primarily on the U.S. market.[1] Slator reported that the app supported 50 languages, auto-detected the language being used, and converted speech into text and text into spoken audio.[2] The company has described Rylo Phone as a rebuilt version of its IP CTS and IP Relay products, with additional AI features for call context, sentiment analysis, tone detection, and smart predictions.[25] MobiHealthNews reported that Rylo planned to develop additional AI-powered tools for workplace accessibility, network improvements, speaker characteristics, sentiment analysis, and real-time fraud detection.[3]

Following the acquisition of sign.mt, Rylo began developing Rylo Sign, an AI-powered sign-language platform intended to support translation between signed and spoken languages.[7][25][2] Slator described Rylo’s sign-language product as translating text into dozens of sign languages and generating a visual signing avatar.[2] Slator also cited Rylo’s 2026 funding round as part of broader investor interest in AI sign-language technologies, describing AI sign language as an emerging category in the language AI market.[32]

Pulse 2.0 reported in 2024 that Nagish also provided enterprise accessibility tools used by organizations including Comcast, NBCUniversal, Pfizer, and Amazon.[18] Vertex Holdings described the 2026 funding as supporting the company’s effort to expand accessible communication tools beyond phone calls.[33]

Funding

[edit]

Rylo has raised several funding rounds since its launch as Nagish. In 2022, it raised a US$5 million seed round from investors including Vertex Ventures Israel, Cardumen Capital, Contour Venture Partners, Precursor Ventures, and Comcast Ventures.[12] In July 2024, the company raised an US$11 million Series A round led by Canaan Partners, bringing total funding to US$16 million.[16][17][12][18]

In June 2026, the company announced US$85 million in new funding as part of its rebrand from Nagish to Rylo.[1][3][7][2][26][27][28][29][30] CTech by Calcalist reported that the round brought total funding to US$101 million and valued Rylo at approximately US$500 million.[1] Capital-Riesgo also reported that the round brought total financing to US$101 million.[29] Business Wire and MobiHealthNews described total funding as more than US$100 million.[7][3]

CTech by Calcalist reported that Rylo expected to reach US$100 million in annual revenue by the end of 2026 and that Aharoni said the company had become profitable after beginning to generate revenue from FCC-certified services.[1] The same article reported that Aharoni targeted US$1 billion in revenue by 2028; this was described as a company goal rather than audited revenue.[1]

Market context

[edit]

Slator reported in 2026 that Rylo faced established competition in the U.S. telecommunications relay market from other FCC-certified providers, including InnoCaption and Sorenson Communications.[2] The same article noted that broader consumer technology companies, including Google and Apple, offered live phone-captioning features outside the specialized FCC-certified relay market.[2] Slator reported that Rylo differed from FCC-approved competitors by offering a fully automated service without human interpreters, while some competitors used a combination of automation and human-assisted services.[2]

Coverage and recognition

[edit]

The Hearing Review covered Nagish’s funding milestones and described its platform as an AI-powered transcription tool aimed at improving communication for people with hearing loss.[12] The publication also reported that Nagish received the “Speech to Text Solution of the Year” award from the AI Breakthrough Awards in 2025.[34]

Deaf-led publication The Daily Moth reported on Nagish’s FCC IP Relay certification and user experiences with the automated system.[20] Deaf-led publication Limping Chicken published an interview with Aharoni examining user trust, automation versus human relay models, and the platform’s reception among deaf and hard-of-hearing communities.[35] Ability Magazine published a profile interview with Aharoni discussing the company’s origins, privacy-preserving automation, and telephone access for deaf and hard-of-hearing users.[36]

DeafNation featured Nagish in community-facing video interviews, including a 2022 DeafNation World Expo & Conference segment in which Joel Barish interviewed Matt Sherman, Nagish’s head of community, about real-time text-to-speech and speech-to-text technology.[37] In another DeafNation interview, Barish and Sherman discussed the product’s ability to convert text-to-speech and speech-to-text in real time during phone calls.[38]

In 2026, Jewish News Syndicate published a feature on Nagish’s origins, adoption, and expansion into sign-language translation.[5] Unite.AI published a 2025 interview with Aharoni covering the company’s AI platform, product design, privacy features, and Aharoni’s technical background.[31] Entrepreneur profiled Aharoni and Rylo after the company announced its US$85 million round, focusing on the company’s origin story, FCC certification process, fundraising, and rebrand.[6] MobiHealthNews and Slator covered the 2026 funding round in the contexts of digital health accessibility, language AI, and sign-language technology.[3][2] CTech by Calcalist and The Jerusalem Post covered Nagish’s acquisition of sign.mt and its expansion into AI-powered sign-language accessibility research.[22][23]

Accessibility and relay context

[edit]

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), approximately 15% of American adults, or about 37.5 million people ages 18 and over, report some trouble hearing.[39] The World Health Organization states that more than 5% of the world’s population, or 430 million people, require rehabilitation for disabling hearing loss, and projects that nearly 2.5 billion people will have some degree of hearing loss by 2050.[40]

Rylo’s FCC-certified relay services are reimbursed through the United States TRS program. The FCC’s 2026 full-certification notice for Nagish stated that IP CTS and IP Relay are supported by the Interstate TRS Fund and that the Fund compensates eligible providers of Internet-based and interstate relay services for the reasonable costs of providing those services.[4] For the 2025–2026 fund year, the FCC established a net TRS Fund revenue requirement of US$1,479,568,862. The same order approved carrier contribution factors of 0.00025 for non-Internet-based TRS and 0.02086 for Internet-based TRS, including IP CTS, IP Relay, and Video Relay Service.[41] In May 2026, the FCC sought comment on proposed payment formulas and funding requirements for the 2026–2027 fund year, including proposed compensation formulas for IP Relay and IP CTS.[42]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Shulman, Sophie (2026-06-09). "Rylo raises $85 million at $500 million valuation, targets $1 billion revenue by 2028". CTech by Calcalist. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Glenn, Elias (2026-06-19). "Startup Raises USD 85M to Build AI Language Solutions for the Deaf Population". Slator. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bender, Eve (2026-06-12). "Rylo raises $85M to expand AI communication tools for deaf and hard-of-hearing users". MobiHealthNews. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Grant of Certification for Nagish, Inc., to Provide Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service and Internet Protocol Relay Service" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. 2026-06-09. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Beck, Atara (2026-01-28). "US-Israeli startup achieves communication breakthrough for the deaf". Jewish News Syndicate. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Small, Jonathan (2026-06-30). "He Got 77 'Nos' Before a 'Yes'. How This Founder Raised $85 Million to Transform Communication for the Deaf". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Rylo Launches Next Chapter With $85 Million in New Funding to Expand AI Communication Tools for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Community" (Press release). Business Wire. 2026-06-09. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  8. ↑ "Columbia University and Nagish". Google for Education. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  9. ↑ "Solving for Accessible Phone Calls | Built by Student Developers". Google Cloud Tech. 2019. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  10. 1 2 "CS Student to Present at Google Cloud Next '19". Columbia University Department of Computer Science. 2019. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  11. ↑ "נגיש: שיחות טלפון נגישות לאנשים עם לקות שמיעה" (in Hebrew). Camoni. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "AI-Powered Transcription App Gets More Funding". The Hearing Review. 2024-07-12. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  13. 1 2 "FCC Grants Conditional IP CTS Certification to Global Caption Inc. and Nagish Inc". Federal Communications Commission. 2024-01-19. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  14. 1 2 Epstein, Shiri (2024-01-11). "AI Communication Service For Hearing Impaired Gets FCC Approval". NoCamels. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  15. ↑ "Nagish's accessibility app gains thousands of new users". CTech by Calcalist. 2024-08-14. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  16. 1 2 Shulman, Sophie (2024-07-10). "Nagish raises $11 million Series A to make communication accessible to the deaf". CTech by Calcalist. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  17. 1 2 3 "Nagish Raises $11M to Bring Independence to Those with Hearing Impairments with its AI-Powered Mobile Communication Solution". AlleyWatch. 2024-07-12. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  18. 1 2 3 Chowdhry, Amit (2024-07-21). "Nagish: $16 Million Closed To Make Communication Accessible For Deaf And Hard-Of-Hearing Individuals". Pulse 2.0. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  19. 1 2 "FCC Grants Conditional IP Relay Certification to InnoCaption and Nagish Inc". Federal Communications Commission. 2025-01-08. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  20. 1 2 3 "Nagish gets FCC certification as IP Relay provider". The Daily Moth. 2025-03-21. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  21. ↑ "Nagish Achieves FCC Certification for IP Relay Accessibility". Nagish. 2025-02-01. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  22. 1 2 3 4 Cohen-Rozen, Maayan (2025-10-27). "Nagish acquires Sign.mt to advance AI-powered sign language solutions". CTech by Calcalist. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  23. 1 2 3 "Nagish acquires sign.mt to advance AI research in sign language accessibility". The Jerusalem Post. 2025-10-26. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  24. ↑ "Nagish Acquires sign.mt". Citybiz. 2025-10-22. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 Aharoni, Tomer (2026-06-09). "Nagish is Now Rylo". Rylo. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  26. 1 2 "Rylo Raises $85M in New Funding". FinSMES. 2026-06-09. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  27. 1 2 "Rylo (formerly Nagish) raises $85M for AI accessibility communication". Dealroom.co. June 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  28. 1 2 Alkaslasi, Oshri (2026-06-09). גיוס גדול לסטארטאפ הישראלי Rylo שמאפשר לחרשים לדבר בטלפון. Geektime (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  29. 1 2 3 "Cardumen participates in Rylo's funding round, bringing its total financing to $101 million to drive its expansion in accessible communication technology". Capital-Riesgo.es. June 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  30. 1 2 "Rylo Raises $85M Growth Funding for AI Platform". Ventureburn. June 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  31. 1 2 Tardif, Antoine (2025-12-12). "Tomer Aharoni, CEO and Co-Founder of Nagish – Interview Series". Unite.AI. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  32. ↑ Wyndham, Anna (2026-06-24). "2026 Slator Language AI 50 Under 50". Slator. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  33. ↑ "Rylo raises $85 million to make accessible communication a product people can rely on". Vertex Holdings. 2026-06-20. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  34. ↑ "Nagish Wins AI Breakthrough Award for Speech-to-Text Solution". The Hearing Review. 2025-07-01. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  35. ↑ "An interview with Tomer Aharoni, CEO of Nagish". Limping Chicken. 2025-12-12. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  36. ↑ "Tomer Aharoni, Co-Founder of Nagish". Ability Magazine. 2024. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  37. ↑ "Nagish". DeafNation. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  38. ↑ "Coffee with Joel: Nagish". DeafNation. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  39. ↑ "Quick Statistics About Hearing, Balance, & Dizziness". National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. 2024-09-20. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  40. ↑ "Deafness and hearing loss". World Health Organization. 2026-03-03. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  41. ↑ "Telecommunications Relay Services and Speech-to-Speech Services for Individuals with Hearing and Speech Disabilities; Structure and Practices of the Video Relay Service Program" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. 2025-07-07. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  42. ↑ "TRS Fund Administrator Submits Payment Formulas and Funding Requirements for the Telecommunications Relay Services Fund" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. 2026-05-22. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
[edit]

Category:Accessibility Category:Telecommunications companies of the United States Category:Companies based in New York City Category:Artificial intelligence companies

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