Ana Laguna began interpreting her son’s cries while on maternity leave. Out of pure hobby, he tried to sort them from a very basic catalog: Hunger, Sleep, Gas, Stress, and Attachment. There are algorithms that make it possible to interpret bird song and even communicate with chimpanzees. I thought there must also be a way to do it with children,” she says from her home in Ciudad Real. When she compared her results to those of her friends and family, she began to realize that there were indeed common patterns. This is how Zoundream began start which analyzes why newborns cry and applies artificial intelligence and voice recognition to decode messages.
It all started when he presented his findings at an informal meeting where entrepreneurs talk about their personal projects. “The show had an incredible media impact. It was then that I decided that this could not remain just a hobby.” A few months later, she left her position as a data scientist at BBVA to devote herself exclusively to the project.
Zoundream was officially established in 2019, coinciding with its second pregnancy. To do this, he enlisted the support of his current partner and CEO of the company, Roberto Iannone, and integrated Matteo Ingravalle and Paolo Ingratio into the technical part. The team is closed by Stavros Ntalampiras, a Milanese professor of voice processing who is currently a consultant to the company.
Laguna’s AI career is actually very recent. In fact, it is localized. “I studied translation and interpretation because I loved learning languages. After taking a detour in my career shortly after finishing my studies, I happened to finally end up devoting myself to translation. But not in the way I expected.”
Its potential customers are technology companies and the home appliance sector, such as Alexa or Google Home. “We have developed the technology to make this interpretation effective. From here, the software can be applied to a large number of devices and gadgets.” Currently, they are only able to replicate the hunger, sleep, gas, stress, and attachment needs of babies between zero and six months of age. When needs exceed half a year, Laguna says, needs multiply and it becomes more difficult to categorize them. They also work with pediatricians to try to diagnose possible illnesses. They have raised $1.75 million in various rounds, and although in 2022 they paid practically nothing – barely €16,000 in a beta test with Catalana Occident -, they hope to start getting steady income this year: “In 2024, Zoundream should already be a profitable company.”
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