Guava raises $12.5M seed to build voice agent platform
The company will adapt its native voice models for on-premise installations, edge hardware, and full-duplex conversations.
Screenshot: guava.dev
Guava, a developer platform for building voice agents, has raised $12.5 million in seed funding led by Acrew Capital [1].
Other institutional backers participating in the equity round include Commerce Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, WillowTree Ventures, and Flourish Ventures [1]. The investment was announced on Nov. 11, 2026 [1].
The company was created by CEO Omri Dahan alongside co-founders Nico Benitez, Mike Piechna, and Anthony Scodary, who also serves as co-head of engineering [1]. In September 2026, the team rolled out its first publicly available model, dubbed Daytona [1]. Lauren Kolodny, founding partner at Acrew Capital, backed the startup's approach [1].
Explaining why the team chose to avoid relying on external pipelines, Scodary pointed to composite architecture risks: "When you stitch together other people’s models, you inherit their latency, their failure modes" [1].
Proceeds from the financing will go toward expanding the voice system, alongside adapting its models for edge hardware, on-premises installations, and two-way full-duplex speech [1].
Questions and answers
How much seed funding did Guava raise?
Guava raised $12.5 million in a seed financing round led by Acrew Capital.
Who participated in Guava's seed round?
Acrew Capital led the round, with additional backing from Flourish Ventures, WillowTree Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, and Commerce Ventures.
How does Guava plan to spend the capital?
The funds will go toward scaling its voice agent software, supporting on-premise deployments, and engineering full-duplex and edge-device capabilities.
Companies & investors in this story
Sources
- 1.Guava secures $12.5 million seed funding to scale its AI voice agent platform — americanbazaaronline.com
- 2.Guava raises $12.5 mn in seed funding to expand enterprise voice AI agents — Beinsure: Insurance & InsurTech Media Market Intelligence Platform
