TIM Ventures, the company of the Telecom Italia Group has made its first step in the venture capital space in support of the best digital startups and, along with Sistema Investmenti and Embed Capital, has invested a total of €410k in Pedius, the Rome, Italy-based startup that led by Lorenzo Ciaccio and with a team of 8 people, has developed a communication system that allows hearing impaired people to perform normal phone calls by means of speech recognition and vocal synthesis technologies.
You can use in your everyday life to make important calls such as booking doctors appointments or making reservations or to call family, friends and co-workers. Once you download the Smartphone app you can start a conversation by either typing or speaking a message. The person you are calling will hear this and reply, and you will immediately read a transcription of what he or she just said.
Pedius gives you the freedom to have real-time conversations when you need to call a plumber, book a table at your favourite restaurant, or talk to you doctor. All this is done with full respect for your privacy because you're the only one who sees the communication between you and those you speak with.
The Pedius app is especially useful when you need to contact someone accessible only by phone, and it is excellent when you need to be careful about your privacy. Calling costs the same as an average mobile phone call per minute. All new users to Pedius will receive £2.00.
The Pedius application, winner of grant TIM#WCAP grant in 2013 and of numerous awards and recognitions, was adopted by the Call Center of Telecom Italia Group, which has thus brought down a major barrier for those who suffer total or partial hearing. The investment of TIM Ventures will allow Pedius to continue its international expansion, in England and Ireland where the service is already available. This operation is an example of how in Italy the industry of investments in venture capital and innovation is changing.
TIM Ventures has a twofold mission: scouting for Telecom Italia the most innovative solutions created by the best Italian startups and support the system a young founders who can let Italy grow.
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