MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 20, 2026--
Otter.ai, the company behind the leading AI notetaker and conversational knowledge platform, today announced the closing of $320 million in growth financing from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund (CVF). The new capital will accelerate the next phase of Otter’s enterprise growth, go-to-market strategy, international expansion, and product innovation as Otter builds toward becoming the definitive knowledge layer for enterprises, where every conversation is captured, connected, and turned into action.
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Otter is already trusted at scale: more than 40 million users worldwide, including teams at over 86% of the Fortune 500. Across more than 1 billion meetings transcribed, Otter has generated over $1.5 billion in customer ROI through time saved.
This momentum, along with General Catalyst’s investment, supports Otter’s mission to become the voice system of record for all enterprises. With Otter, teams can prepare with better context, decide faster, and act on what was discussed long after a meeting ends. Built on a foundation of industry-leading Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) accuracy and the most accurate speaker identification, Otter turns meeting context into organizational knowledge powering significant productivity gains for organizations across industries including sales, to consulting, education, financial services, professional services, and media.
“This financing from General Catalyst is a powerful vote of confidence in what we’re building at Otter, and we’re excited for the next phase of growth it will drive,” said Sam Liang, Otter.ai CEO. “This will fuel our next chapter, enabling us to build enterprise agentic workflows that bring more advanced, intelligent AI to teams everywhere and push toward a future where voice becomes the backbone of enterprise productivity.”
"Voice is one of the biggest untapped opportunities in enterprise AI, and Otter is at the forefront of it - a conviction that's only deepened watching Otter's growth," said Pranav Singhvi, Partner and Co-founder of CVF, General Catalyst. "When Otter enables enterprises to capture critical voice data and turns it into actionable business insights, teams move faster, decisions get sharper, and productivity compounds across the organization, and that's why it's a strong partner for CVF."
For more information, visit otter.ai.
About Otter.ai
Otter.ai is the AI notetaker and conversation knowledge engine for the modern enterprise. With over 40 million users, including more than 86% of the Fortune 500, and 1 billion+ meetings transcribed, Otter captures, connects, and activates the knowledge from every conversation. Otter’s proprietary ASR and speaker identification, built in-house, delivers industry-leading accuracy, turning meetings into searchable intelligence, automated action items, and agentic workflows that sync directly to the tools teams already use and gets smarter with every conversation. Backed by Spectrum Equity, Horizon Ventures, and Draper Associates, and most recently General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund (CVF) with $320 million in growth financing. Otter.ai is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Sam Liang, co-founder and CEO of Otter.ai and Yun Fu, co-founder and CTO of Otter.ai
An Israeli attack on an apartment in Gaza left two people dead and wounded others as the military said it targeted a Hamas militant. The death toll from a missile strike by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on a government training camp in southern Yemen rose to 60.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, suggested in a video call with U.S. President Donald Trump that their two countries could launch new attacks on Iran.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Tuesday. Read our full coverage here.
The Israeli military struck an apartment in Gaza before dawn, killing two people and injuring others.
The two people killed were a husband and wife, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies.
The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas militant.
The attack followed a series of strikes on Monday that killed at least four people. They came more than a year after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire. But the death toll in Gaza continues to rise as Israel carries out near-daily strikes on what it says are members of Hamas.
More than 1,500 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israel since last year’s ceasefire, according to the territory’s health ministry, which maintains detailed records and is seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its toll but says women and children make up nearly half the dead.
Yemeni military and government officials say the death toll from Monday's strikes by the Houthis on a government training camp in southern Yemen has reached 73.
The Iranian-backed rebels hit the military camp, where new recruits were receiving training, with ballistic missiles. It was the deadliest strike since a resurgence in fighting this summer in the impoverished country.
The strike on the al-Alam camp left more than 200 other recruits wounded, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. The death toll could rise because many suffered serious injuries.
The Shabwa provincial government said Monday that the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles on the camp. The Houthis claimed the attack, saying it killed and wounded dozens but did not provide further details.
— By Samy Magdy in Cairo
A senior Qatari official says Israeli leaders are not committed to a negotiated end to the war in Gaza and are instead focused only on “war and death and destruction” in the lead up to Israel’s first national elections since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
“Sadly, right now we do not have a partner for peace in Israel,” said Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar's Foreign Ministry and adviser to the Qatari prime minister, speaking to The Associated Press on stage at the Global Security Forum in Doha.
Al-Ansari said: “You look at all the statements coming out from all the political parties and all the political candidates right now in the elections. Does any of them even talk about peace with Palestinians? Does any of them even talk about stability of the region?"
— By Victoria Eastwood in Doha
Netanyahu suggested that Israel and the United States could launch new attacks on Iran. The suggestion came in a video of a call with Trump that the Israeli leader posted.
On the call, Netanyahu thanked Trump for his endorsement. It came about a week ahead of Israel’s national elections, and with Netanyahu running in a tight reelection race widely viewed as a referendum on his leadership around the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack and amid a series of inconclusive wars, including with Iran.
“Donald, we have a job to finish. You said it, and we’ll finish it together. We’ll finish it, and no one else will do it,” Netanyahu said on the video, where Trump could be heard talking on speakerphone.
“People in America should know that you have stood up against the greatest danger that faces them — an Iran with nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu added. “We won’t let it happen.”
Turkey’s government has submitted to parliament a mutual defense agreement signed with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan for ratification, state media said, bringing the country closer to committing to meeting Riyadh’s defense needs.
The agreement signed by the three countries in August will be reviewed by a parliamentary committee before being put to a vote in the Turkish parliament's general assembly.
The full text of the agreement has not been made public. Officials have said Turkey is considering sending military support for Saudi Arabia under the deal but have ruled out sending combat troops.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
Palestinians inspect the damage to an apartment building struck by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians inspect the damage to an apartment building struck by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Relatives mourn over the body of Dina Yassin, who was killed alongside her husband in an Israeli army strike on an apartment in Gaza City, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Dima Yassin mourns over the body of her mother, Dina Yassin, during the funeral of her parents, who were killed in an Israeli army strike on an apartment in Gaza City, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Dima Yassin mourns over the body of her mother, Dina Yassin, during the funeral of her parents, who were killed in an Israeli army strike on an apartment in Gaza City, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
