Deepgram acquires Pipecat-maker Daily to bolster its voice AI infrastructure

Why it matters

Deepgram is acquiring Daily, the company behind Pipecat, a widely used open-source framework for orchestrating real-time voice and video pipelines, including speech-to-text, large language models, and text-to-speech components. The deal price was not disclosed, and both companies say Pipecat will remain open-source. Daily had attracted notable venture backing, with investors including Tiger Global, Highfield Capital, Nat Friedman, Lachy Groom, and Kevin Weil, according to PitchBook. The acquisition comes as voice AI draws heavy investment on both the model and infrastructure sides, with startups like LiveKit, Vapi, ElevenLabs, Gradium, and Fish Audio raising funding. Deepgram itself reached unicorn status earlier this year after a sizable Series C round. Daily co-founder Kwindla Kramer said the pair began experimenting with AI-to-human voice communication after the release of GPT-4, which led to Pipecat. Both companies were part of the same Y Combinator batch, and Kramer said Deepgram's commitment to keeping Pipecat vendor-neutral made the deal appealing. Alongside the acquisition, Deepgram is launching Real-Time Context Standard, an open protocol for voice agents co-developed with the Pipecat team.