Helsingborg’s conversation AI startup Klang raises €1.32 million and releases open speech-to-text model for Swedish

Klang is a Helsingborg-based artificial intelligence startup founded in 2023 that creates tools to transcribe, summarise, and analyse interviews, meetings, and dialogues. The company recently raised €1.32 million in new capital at a valuation of €13.2 million, with backing from existing owners and investors including Johan Lenander, Emil Sjödin, and Daniel Gadd.

Alongside the funding round, Klang released an open speech-to-text model for the Swedish language called Pianissimo. Built on Nvidia Parakeet and optimised for Swedish and its dialects, the model can run locally on a standard laptop. Klang reports that Pianissimo matches the accuracy of the top existing open Swedish model while operating roughly 60 times faster.

The newly raised capital will be used to fund ongoing artificial intelligence research, product development, and international expansion, with plans to hire around 10 new employees. Klang is targeting growth in the Nordics, the Benelux countries, the DACH region, and Japan, having already launched its platform in Japan with a localised interface and mobile applications.