{
  "id": 10433431,
  "title": "Helsingborg’s conversation AI startup Klang raises €1.32 million and releases open speech-to-text model for Swedish",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/28/helsingborgs-conversation-ai-startup-klang-raises-1-32-million-and",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-28T11:25:39.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "EU-Startups",
    "slug": "eu-startups",
    "url": "https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/09/helsingborgs-conversation-ai-startup-klang-raises-e1-32-million-and-releases-open-speech-to-text-model-for-swedish/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Helsingborg-based AI startup Klang has raised €1.32 million (SEK 15 million) in fresh funding, bringing its valuation to €13.2 million (SEK 150 million). The investment round, led by Johan Lenander, Emil Sjödin, and Daniel Gadd, aims to bolster the company's speech and language models for real-time conversation transcription, summarisation, and analysis.\n\nKlang's co-founder and CEO, Niklas Silfverström, explained their vision: \"What is said should never be lost. We want to create a perfect memory of every conversation – a memory that not only remembers what was said, but also understands the conversation as well as, or even better than, the people in the room.\"\n\nThe company recently launched its first open speech-to-text model for Swedish, called Pianissimo. Optimised for Swedish and dialects, the model runs locally on standard laptops and is released under an open-source license. Pianissimo builds on Nvidia Parakeet, achieving accuracy comparable to KB Whisper Large but 60 times faster.\n\nSilfverström added, \"We're building technology that needs real-time transcription, but lacked an open model adapted for Swedish. The fact that Pianissimo runs on ordinary consumer hardware also opens up new kinds of services.\"\n\nLooking ahead, Klang plans to use the capital for continued AI development and international expansion, targeting markets such as the Nordics, Benelux, DACH region, and Japan.",
  "summary": "Klang, a Helsingborg-based AI company that transcribes, summarises and analyses interviews, meetings and dialogues, has raised €1.32 million (SEK 15 million) in fresh capital at a valuation of €13.2 million (SEK 150 million). The round was backed by existing owners and led by Johan Lenander, entrepreneur and tech investor, together with Emil Sjödin, founder of […] The post Helsingborg’s…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}