Speaksee products and services are therefore born from a deep understanding of their users and their challenges. The Speaksee Microphone Kit records live what is said during personal & group meetings and transcribes the conversation in real time into text on a smartphone. This allows hearing impaired people to read what is said directly.

Speaksee identifies speakers in different colors, which then appear in the App. This way it is easy to see who is saying what. The Microphone Kit uses a series of sensors to do this. The microphone intelligently isolates and captures speech from the user and rejects noise from other sources.

Speaksee can be used on smartphones, laptops and desktops and the app is available for iOS and Android devices.

Speaksee was the first case that was presented and discussed with a wide range of different financiers in our first Integrated Capital Lab (ICL) in January 2019. Financiers that were present were Oneplanetcrowd (now Invesdor), ABN Amro Sustainable Impact Fund, RVO/Invest International, INZET, Rabo Foundation, Triodos Bank and Stichting DOEN. It was a great kick-start of the ICL proposition for both Speaksee and Generous Minds, because Speaksee got a lot of valuable input on their business at that time. The financiers in turn indicated in which phases they could support with financing.

The ICL has led to a DTIF loan of €215,430 via RVO/Invest International, which enabled Speaksee to produce in collaboration with a Taiwanese partner. This loan has now been repaid and a new loan has been provided that is still running. In addition, Jari has been put in touch with an informal investor via Generous Minds who has so far invested €700,000 in Speaksee with a group of other informal investors.

"Generous Minds has provided us with access to a very high-quality network of social investors who fit well with our vision. I really enjoy working with them because they are truly different from other parties in the market. We operate from a foundation of trust, so you don't have to worry about being disadvantaged in the small print."

Jari Hazelebach, CEO & Founder Speaksee

As time goes by, Speaksee develops in line with expectations. In close collaboration with Speaksee, we maintain an overview and support them with expertise and finding the right impact financiers for the next growth phases. In line with our philosophy, we introduce our Generous Minds experts where relevant, to increase the chance of success and impact with combined forces. For example, support is and is provided for:

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• A review of the product design and manufacturing aspects of Speaksee by Ronald Lewerissa

• Advising on efforts to get Speaksee reimbursed by health insurers with support from Maarten Broekema

• Creating and substantiating a valuation for the first and second round financing by Frank Härte

• Developing brand awareness by Marie-Claire van Hessen and Britt Vries through our partner MCPR

• Exploring synergy effects between United Repair Centre, also a company supported by Generous Minds, and Speaksee, which resulted in this video showing how Speaksee technology is used to help non-Dutch speaking employees communicate with each other in the workplace

• Guiding the various financing rounds by Ronald Beuk and Jurek Hryniuk.

Over a Million in Growth Financing

In the Netherlands, very good results have been achieved with the Speaksee Microphone Kit. For example, 1000 Speaksee sets have been sent to users. For example, to audiological centers, KPN, Rabobank, PWC, various municipalities and the national government. Here, Speaksee is mainly used for the deaf, the hard of hearing, but also by people who speak other languages.

“We are very enthusiastic about the use of Speaksee in the central government and see important advantages. Where on average no more than ten to twelve percent of people with a disability progressed to a permanent employment contract after a trial placement, this has increased to approximately half thanks to the use of inclusive technology. It also significantly increases the career opportunities for this group.”

Gerard de Gooijer, Senior Advisor Business Operations ICT Domain at the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations

Speaksee has also been reimbursed by the UWV since the beginning of 2024, which means that there is no longer a barrier for deaf, hard of hearing and non-native speakers to purchase a Speaksee product in their work environment. Blind Member of Parliament Daan de Korte (VVD) and Jari announced this earlier this year in this video.

Due to these developments, Speaksee is ready for the next step abroad. For the international expansion to England, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland and Germany and the further product development of the Speaksee CaptionCast, more than 1 million growth financing was raised at the beginning of July 2024. €800,000 of this comes from investors including the Groningen impact fund NoorderImpact and various angel investors, including the founders of Dutch unicorn DataSnipper. In addition, €240,000 in previously raised convertible loans was converted into share capital. That had to be celebrated!

"To develop your business as an entrepreneur you need a lot of resilience, we also call that the 'resilience factor'. What is Jari's resilience factor?"

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"Because my parents are deaf and hard of hearing, I experience and feel how difficult this can be. They and other deaf, hard of hearing and non-native speakers constantly have the feeling that they are not being taken into account. That they do not exist. While it is very difficult for friends, family and colleagues to focus only on them during a group meeting. I want to solve this and that drive always pulls me through. In addition, the trust that Generous Minds always has in me also supports me enormously."

Jari Hazelebach, CEO & Founder Speaksee

Future Vision of Jari

Speaksee is ready to make a positive difference for many more deaf, hard of hearing and non-native speakers. Both in education, private and in the work environment. Jari's ultimate goal is to make the price of Speaksee products as accessible as possible, so that there are no more barriers for people to participate normally in society again.

They want to provide all churches, funeral homes, conference centers, lecture halls with the Speaksee CaptionCast product that is currently in development. Then such a location only has to plug and play it into an audio system and they are immediately accessible to everyone. The visitor can scan a QR code with his/her own phone and choose in which language he/she wants to read along (40 available languages). It can also be displayed on a large screen so that everyone can read it (see Social Enterprise World Forum event, 2023). Or even embed it in a digital broadcast with the same device.

Personally, Speaksee is one of our favorite entrepreneurs that we support with Generous Minds & Money. Jari and his team are very authentic, professional and fun to work with! It is great to experience how they continuously develop Speaksee to the next level and make the desired impact on the lives of deaf, hard of hearing and non-native speakers. Click below to see some first reactions from users who experience Speaksee for the first time in their lives.