Last Updated: 12 November 2025
San Francisco AI research lab Tavus announced $40 million in Series B funding to advance what it calls "human computing"—teaching machines to interact like people do. CRV led the round, with participation from Scale Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator, HubSpot Ventures, and Flex Capital.
The funding comes alongside the launch of PALs (Personal Affective Links), AI humans that combine video, voice, and text communication with emotional intelligence and autonomous capabilities. Unlike text-based chatbots, PALs can see, hear, and respond through face-to-face video while understanding context, emotion, and social cues.
Most AI interactions today feel like a step backward. We're typing commands into chatbots, spelling out every instruction—not so different from command-line interfaces of the past. For Tavus CEO Hassaan Raza, this approach misses the point entirely.
"We've spent decades forcing humans to learn to speak the language of machines. 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."
Hassaan Raza, CEO of Tavus
The company argues that human-computer interfaces haven't fundamentally changed since the 1980s, when we moved from typing commands to clicking buttons. PALs represent an attempt to make that leap forward—creating AI that communicates the way people actually do.
PALs maintain a visual presence during conversations, reading facial expressions and body language in real time. They pick up on tone, timing, and subtle social cues, then adjust their responses accordingly. The system remembers past interactions and adapts to individual communication styles.
More significantly, PALs have what Tavus calls "agency." They can take initiative, reaching out proactively and handling tasks like calendar management and email correspondence without constant supervision. The goal is to move beyond reactive chatbots toward AI that can act on your behalf.
Users can interact with PALs through video calls, voice conversations, or text messages. The system switches between these modes naturally, maintaining context throughout.
Three proprietary models power the PALs platform, each handling a different aspect of human-like interaction. Tavus developed all of them in-house, drawing on expertise from researchers who previously worked at leading universities and AI labs.
Phoenix-4 handles visual rendering, generating lifelike facial expressions, head movements, and emotional displays fast enough for real-time conversation. Sparrow-1 manages conversational intelligence, using audio and semantic analysis to understand not just what someone says, but how they say it and when to respond. Raven-1 processes contextual perception, interpreting environments, emotions, expressions, and gestures to give PALs spatial and social awareness.
These models work together through an orchestration system that manages memory and coordinates responses across video, speech, and text. The company claims this combination creates the first truly multimodal AI humans.
Tavus was founded in San Francisco with a mission to bridge the gap between how computers work and how people naturally communicate. The research team includes Professor Ioannis Patras and Dr. Maja Pantic, bringing deep expertise in rendering, perception, and affective computing.
Over 100,000 developers and enterprises currently use Tavus technology for recruiting, sales, education, and customer service applications. The company positions itself as an AI research lab rather than just a product company, focusing on foundational models that could reshape human-computer interaction more broadly.
The Series B funding will support continued research and development of the underlying models, expansion into new markets, and scaling the PALs platform for enterprise adoption. Tavus is offering free access to PALs at tavus.io for users who want to experience the technology firsthand.
CRV's decision to lead the round reflects growing investor interest in AI that goes beyond text-based interactions. The firm joins a roster of backers that includes Scale Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator, HubSpot Ventures, and Flex Capital—all betting that the next phase of AI will be more human, not just more powerful.
For Tavus, this funding validates years of research into making computers feel less like tools and more like conversation partners. Whether PALs deliver on that promise remains to be seen, but the company is pushing toward a future where talking to AI feels as natural as talking to another person.
