Verbit Software

Verbit Software Ltd., branded simply as Verbit, is a private Israeli technology company that operates a verbal intelligence platform. Founded in Tel Aviv in 2016 and headquartered in Givatayim, the company builds software that converts speech into text, captions, translations and other accessible formats. Its core proposition is a hybrid model: automatic speech recognition (ASR) generates a first-pass transcript, and a global network of human transcribers reviews and refines the output, feeding corrections back into the system so the machine-learning models improve over time. Verbit describes itself as serving more than 3,000 businesses and institutions, with offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Israel. The company's product suite is organized around industry-specific solutions rather than a single generic tool. For the legal market, Verbit offers Legal Visor for attorneys and litigation teams and Legal Capture for court reporting agencies, digital reporters and law enforcement, providing real-time and post-event transcripts for trials, hearings, depositions and appellate proceedings. For media and entertainment, Verbit Dub serves content creators, broadcasters, media distributors and FAST channels, while Captivate Post targets media networks, producers, streamers and podcasters. Enterprise Capture addresses corporate workflows across learning and development, HR, legal, sales, marketing and market research, and Venue Live supports event producers and A/V teams. Campus Complete is aimed at universities and institutions facing ADA Title II accessibility requirements, and AI Audio Description makes video accessible to blind and low-vision audiences. Across these verticals, Verbit provides audio description, captioning, dubbing, translation, transcription and note taking, available live or on-demand and in-person or online. Verbit's proprietary technology platform is branded Captivate. The company positions Captivate as the engine that unlocks the value of speech, enabling live captions, transcription, translation, audio description, dubbing and note taking so that customers can meet accessibility guidelines and work more efficiently. The company's stated mission is to make all verbal information and experiences accessible, insightful and useful, and its vision is a world in which all speech can be seamlessly converted into meaningful actions. Verbit grew rapidly through venture funding, reaching unicorn status in June 2021 after raising $157 million, and it expanded its media accessibility footprint by acquiring the American captioning company VITAC in May 2021. The generative-AI wave, however, disrupted the transcription market and hit Verbit's revenue and valuation hard. The company experienced slowing growth, multiple rounds of layoffs and a steep decline in value in 2023–2024. In February 2024, co-founder and CEO Tom Livne announced his departure, and Yair Amsterdam, the company's president and former COO, was appointed CEO. Verbit remains active, marketing its platform to law firms, courts, media companies, universities and enterprises worldwide.

Verbit Software was founded in November 2016 by Tom Livne, Dr. Eric Shellef and Kobi Ben Tzvi. The founding insight, as the company tells it, was that attorneys were spending too much time and money on inaccurate transcripts; the team then discovered how many other industries could benefit from accurate transcripts. Livne served as CEO, Shellef as CTO and Ben Tzvi as VP of Engineering, though Shellef and Ben Tzvi later became inactive in the company. The company is headquartered in Givatayim, Israel, and was initially based in Tel Aviv. Verbit's software takes an audio file as input and transcribes it automatically. A second service takes a video file and automatically attaches captions. A third service transcribes speech in real time. In all three cases the automatic output is imperfect, so it is passed to a human transcriber for refinement. The refined result is fed back into the system, allowing it to improve through machine learning. The languages handled are English and Spanish, with an intention to expand to additional languages. The company's services are provided mainly in education, media and legal fields. Verbit grew through a series of venture funding rounds. It raised $11 million early on, $23 million in January 2019, $31 million in January 2020, $60 million in November 2020, and $157 million in June 2021, at which point it became a unicorn. In November 2021 it raised another $150 million, and existing shareholders (employees and investors) sold $100 million in shares. In May 2021 Verbit acquired the American company VITAC, which creates captions for films, expanding its media accessibility footprint. By May 2022 Verbit employed 570 people, 200 of them in Israel. In addition, it engaged approximately 35,000 transcribers as freelancers across 120 countries, whose role was to refine the automatic transcription. The company described itself as one of the world's largest transcription and closed captioning providers, with offices in the US, Canada, UK and Israel, and said its platform was used by more than 3,000 businesses and institutions. The generative-AI revolution significantly damaged the company's revenue and caused a steep decline in its value. In 2023–2024 growth slowed, the company went through several rounds of layoffs, and its valuation fell sharply. In February 2024, Tom Livne announced he was leaving the CEO role, and Yair Amsterdam, the company's president and former COO, was appointed CEO. Verbit continues to operate and market its Captivate platform and industry-specific solutions to legal, media, education and enterprise customers.

• Verbit Software founded in Tel Aviv by Tom Livne, Dr. Eric Shellef and Kobi Ben Tzvi.

• Verbit raises $23 million.

• Verbit raises $31 million.

• Verbit raises $60 million.

• Verbit acquires American captioning company VITAC.

• Verbit raises $157 million and becomes a unicorn.

• Verbit raises $150 million; existing shareholders sell $100 million in shares.

• Verbit employs 570 people, 200 in Israel, plus about 35,000 freelance transcribers in 120 countries.

• Growth slows, multiple rounds of layoffs occur, and valuation falls steeply amid the generative-AI revolution.

• Tom Livne announces departure as CEO; Yair Amsterdam, President and former COO, is appointed CEO.

Verbit positions itself as a verbal intelligence platform that combines the speed and low cost of automatic speech recognition with the accuracy of human transcription, serving legal, media, education and enterprise customers with purpose-built, secure and accessible speech-to-text solutions.

• Captivate™

  Verbit's proprietary technology platform that unlocks the value of speech, enabling live captions, transcription, translation, audio description, dubbing and note taking.

• Legal Visor

  Solution for attorneys and litigation teams.

• Legal Capture

  Solution for court reporting agencies, digital reporters and law enforcement.

• Verbit Dub

  Solution for content creators, broadcasters, media distributors and FAST channels.

• Captivate Post™

  Solution for media networks, producers, streamers and podcasters.

• Enterprise Capture

  Solution for professionals across L&D, HR, legal, sales, marketing and market research.

• Venue Live

  Solution for event producers, A/V teams and global companies.

• Campus Complete

  Solution for university and institutional leaders facing ADA Title II requirements.

• AI Audio Description

  Accessible video for community members who are blind or low vision.

• 2021.12.14

  Reported2021.12.14

  Verbit announces acquisition of Automatic Sync Technologies[7]Verbit宣布收购Automatic Sync Technologiesprweb.com

  Verbit announced its acquisition of Automatic Sync Technologies, a transcription provider serving education and government sectors.

• 2021.05.12

  Reported2021.05.12

  Verbit announces acquisition of VITAC[8]Verbit 宣布收购 VITACen.globes.co.il

  Verbit announced that it was acquiring VITAC, a North American provider of TV captioning products and solutions, from private equity investor Gorews for an estimated tens of millions of dollars.

• 2020.03.03

  Reported2020.03.03

  Verbit CEO Tom Livne to join STTI board[9]Verbit首席执行官Tom Livne将加入STTI董事会prweb.com

  Verbit announced that its CEO and co-founder, Tom Livne, will join the Speech to Text Institute's board of directors.

• 2020.03.03

  Reported2020.03.03

  Verbit and STTI announce strategic partnership[9]Verbit首席执行官Tom Livne将加入STTI董事会prweb.com

  Verbit announced a strategic partnership with the Speech to Text Institute to advance innovation in court reporting and transformation in legal technology.

Read more

1. 1Verbit: AI-Based Transcription & Captioning Servicesverbit.ai
2. 2About Us - Verbitverbit.ai
3. 3Enterprise Solutions | Corporate Captions, Transcripts & Translationverbit.ai
4. 4Courtroom Transcription Services & Legal Transcripts | Verbitverbit.ai
5. 5Verbit Software - Wikidatawikidata.org
6. 6ורביט סופטוור - Wikipedia (Hebrew)he.wikipedia.org
7. 7Verbit宣布收购Automatic Sync Technologiesprweb.com
8. 8Verbit 宣布收购 VITACen.globes.co.il
9. 9Verbit首席执行官Tom Livne将加入STTI董事会prweb.com