Tavus Raises $40M to Build the Next Frontier of Intelligence: Human Computing

Business

Tavus Raises $40M to Build the Next Frontier of Intelligence: Human Computing

2025-11-12 22:11 Last Updated At：11-13 15:14

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 12, 2025--

Today, Tavus announced $40 million in Series B funding to build the future of human computing, led by CRV with participation from Scale Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator, HubSpot Ventures, and Flex Capital. This vision takes shape with the launch of PALs: AI humans built by Tavus with emotional intelligence, agentic capabilities, and true multimodality with text, voice, and face-to-face.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251111507298/en/

Human-computer interfaces haven't fundamentally evolved since the 1980s. We moved from command-line interfaces to graphical user interfaces—from typing commands to clicking buttons. Today's AI chatbots feel like a return to the command-line era: text-based interfaces where humans must spell out every action and instruction. For decades, science fiction promised us something better— Star Trek, Her —computers that could see and hear us, but also look like us, respond with emotion, and feel alive. Tavus is fulfilling this promise by creating AI that makes conversations with computers feel like second nature, just like talking to a friend.

“We've spent decades forcing humans to learn to speak the language of machines,” said Hassaan Raza, CEO of Tavus. “With PALs, we're finally teaching machines to think like humans—to see, hear, respond, and look like we do. To understand emotion, context, and all the messy, beautiful stuff that makes us who we are. It's not about more intelligent AI, it’s about AI that actually meets you where you are.”

Meet the PALs

Tavus launched PALs (Personal Affective Links): Agentic AI humans that see, hear, evolve, remember, and act, just like humans do. Powered by foundational models for rendering, conversational intelligence, and perception, PALs represent the next era of human computing.

PALs are built to communicate the way people do. They maintain a lifelike visual presence, read expressions and gestures, and understand emotion and timing in real time. They remember context, pick up on subtle social cues, and move fluidly between video, voice, and text, so interaction always feels natural. And like humans, they have agency—taking initiative, reaching out, and acting on your behalf to manage calendars, send emails, and follow through without supervision.

For years, computers made us speak their language. PALs finally speak ours, forming genuine connections by learning individual habits, adapting to personality, and improving with every interaction.

The Models Powering PALs

Behind every PAL is a suite of foundational models that teach machines to see, feel, and act the way people do. These proprietary, state-of-the-art systems were built entirely in-house by the Tavus research team to understand and simulate human behavior with unprecedented depth. Each model sets a new standard for realism and intelligence, expanding the boundary of what “human-like” AI can become.

These, paired with a SoTA orchestration and memory management system, bring face-to-face video, speech, text, and agentic capabilities to life, enabling the world’s first AI humans. What makes them powerful isn’t just how they look or talk; it’s that they understand, remember, and act, just as a human would. This is the beginning of computers that finally feel alive.

Get started for free at https://www.tavus.io/

About Tavus

Tavus is a San Francisco-based AI research lab pioneering human computing: the art of teaching machines to be human. Backed by CRV, Scale Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator, HubSpot Ventures, and Flex Capital, Tavus builds foundational models that teach machines to see, hear, respond, and act like people do, pioneering AI humans. The company’s research team brings experience from leading universities and top AI labs, led by researchers specializing in rendering, perception, and affective computing, including Professor Ioannis Patras and Dr. Maja Pantic. Over one hundred thousand developers and enterprises use Tavus to deploy AI for recruiting, sales, education, and customer service.

US envoys in Moscow for meeting with Putin following talks in Abu Dhabi

MOSCOW (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys arrived in Moscow on Thursday for talks with President Vladimir Putin about the results of U.S.-mediated negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations.

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who is also Trump's son-in-law, attended the two days of negotiations in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The talks wrapped up Wednesday with an agreement on a large exchange of prisoners, but no visible breakthrough on ending the nearly five-year hostilities.

After meeting with Putin, Kushner said that he and Witkoff will fly to Dublin, Ireland, to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy gave a muted welcome to the outcome of the talks, saying that the proposed prisoner exchange was a positive step. At the same time, he insisted that Ukraine won't give in to demands that it cede its territory that has been occupied by Russia in exchange for peace.

Hopes had been low for any significant breakthrough in the first meeting in nine months between the delegations. From time to time, Russia and Ukraine have swapped prisoners, but have remained far apart in their demands for accepting a peace settlement.

Along with post-conflict security guarantees for both countries, other key hurdles are the fate of Russia-occupied Ukrainian territory and what role European countries will play in an eventual settlement.

Moscow doesn’t want European countries, which are concerned about Russia’s conduct and broader intentions on the continent, involved in the direct negotiations. Kushner said that one of the goals of the Moscow meeting is to try to get Europeans added to the talks.

Kushner noted that both Ukraine and Russia needed clarity on post-conflict security arrangements, and European countries, the European Union and NATO have to be involved in those discussions to build consensus on the next steps.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that European representatives could eventually join peace talks.

But Peskov said that their current statements “don’t indicate any desire on their part to contribute to movement along the path toward peace.” Moscow complains that Europe is financing and supplying weaponry to Ukraine.

Ukraine wants to ensure that Moscow doesn’t attack again, and EU officials say any discussions on Europe’s security arrangements could only start after a ceasefire. Many in Europe see the inclusion of Russia in those plans as a concession to Putin, who has described NATO’s eastward expansion as a top security threat to his country. Moscow has demanded that the alliance withdraw its troops from Russia’s borders.

Fighting continues along the 1,200-kilometer (about 750-mile) front line, where little territory has changed hands this year, while both countries are battering each other with long-range missiles and drones.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 71 Ukrainian drones overnight.

The ministry declared that the military has struck a drone-making plant in Kyiv and three other facilities producing missile fuel and drone components in the area around the Ukrainian capital. It said that other strikes hit power substations in Zhytomyr and a bulk carrier heading to the Black Sea port of Odesa with cargo for the Ukrainian armed forces.

A Russian military serviceman was killed in St. Petersburg early Thursday when his vehicle exploded, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s main criminal investigation agency. It didn’t name the victim or say who could be behind the bombing. Fontanka news outlet said that the victim was a colonel and an explosive device in his car went off as he drove off. Another person accompanying him was wounded, it said.

Several senior officers have been killed by bombings and other attacks that Russia has blamed on Ukraine. Kyiv has claimed responsibility for some attacks on Russian soil.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the fighting in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine