Wondercraft, a London-based startup aiming to build the “Canva of audio” has raised $3m (£2.36m) in a round featuring Y Combinator and entrepreneur Steven Bartlett.
Launched in 2023 by engineers from US data firm Palantir, Wondercraft is an audio editing platform for podcasts, audiobooks and other audio content creation.
Wondercraft includes AI assistants for music and audio generation as well as translation and dubbing tools.
Co-founder Dimitris Nikolaou said the company was looking to do for audio what Canva has done for graphic design.
“Canva made everyone a designer – we want to empower everyone to be an audio creator,” Nikolaou said.
“Audio is an integral part of people’s media habits today, yet many gifted storytellers are held back by limited tools, production resources and translation services.”
The startup launched its beta in 2023 and has amassed more than 30,000 users, including the team behind the popular podcast Diary of a CEO, hosted by Wondercraft backer Bartlett.
The investment round was led by Will Ventures and featured further participation from ElevenLabs, a British AI startup that last week was valued at more than $1bn following a £63m funding round.
“The incredible breakthrough in human-like synthetic voices, pioneered by our partners at ElevenLabs, was the catalyst for us to pursue our vision of a creative platform dedicated to audio,” added Nikolaou.
Bartlett added: “Wondercraft has given us tools that have enabled us to reach new global audiences in new languages. I believe their product is the future of audio production for creators and publishers so I couldn’t be more excited to be on board.”