Kara Technologies
Kara Technologies brings sign language into the digital age. Their hyper-realistic digital humans translate content into visual sign language, making communication accessible anywhere, anytime, for the Deaf community.
Fund: Te Pae ki te Rangi & Awhi
Transaction Summary
Fund: Awhi | Te Pae ki te Rangi
Date Invested: April 2018 (Pre-seed) | April 2022 (Seed) | November 2024 (Bridge)
Instrument: Equity Investment, Convertible Note
IRIS+ Category: Diversity & Inclusion - SaaS
Why We Invested
If it's not in sign language, it's not fully accessible. Emergency broadcasts, children's books, public services, education: for millions of Deaf people, these aren't things to take for granted. They're things to negotiate, constantly, in a language that isn't their first.
Existing solutions don't solve this. Closed captions aren't sign language. Interpreters don't scale. Kara does.
Their AI-powered translation technology makes sign language available anywhere digital content exists, in real time, at scale, without the bottleneck of human interpreter availability. But the technology is only part of the story. From the beginning, Kara built with the Deaf community, not just for them. That co-design process shaped a product that reflects lived experience, earns genuine trust, and reaches use cases that others couldn't access. It's now a competitive edge.
What drew us in was the depth of the ambition. Kara isn't trying to make existing systems marginally more accessible. They're shifting where the burden sits: away from the Deaf community and onto the businesses, governments, and institutions that should have been inclusive by default. Early traction in emergency communication proved the technology works across different countries and markets. The vision from there is clear: any content, anywhere, in sign language.
We don't back accessibility plays. We back equity ones. Kara is the difference.
Measuring What Matters
Problem:
For the Deaf community, sign language is a first language. Current solutions such as closed captions and human interpreters are either not sign language at all, or impossible to deploy at scale, leaving everyday services inaccessible.
What:
Kara's Auto Translate makes sign language available wherever digital content exists: education, media, public information, and beyond. The product is designed with and by the Deaf community.
Who:
Deaf end users who rely on sign language to access content and services.
How Much:
Scale: number of users multiplied by deployment contexts. A single user may encounter Kara across their streaming platform, internet banking, public announcements, and more.
Depth: the subjective experience of Deaf people in their ability to participate equitably in society. Duration: ranges from single instances of improved access through to long-term life outcomes from greater access to education and information.
Contribution: Other sign language avatars and digital translation services haven't achieved the realism, accuracy, and immediacy that genuine translation requires, nor the speed of deployment Kara offers. If successful, Kara's Auto Translate will be the first SaaS-enabled translation tool governments, agencies, and companies can integrate directly into their communication and content channels.
Impact Risk:
Evidence risk: As a platform plug-in, Kara may be unable to quantify how many Deaf end users encounter their technology or measure the degree of change those users experience.
Impact Measures:
To be defined as the platform deploys across real-world contexts. Kara is currently developing methods to capture both quantitative and qualitative insights.
