Typewise, the next-gen smartphone keyboard for Android and iOS. Type faster with 4x fewer typos and 100% privacy with our unique hexagon keyboard, superior AI autocorrect & multi-language detection. Interview with David Eberle and Dmitry Patuk.
Can you tell us something about the Vision & Idea of Typewise?
Typewise is a Swiss deep-tech company on a mission to make daily lives easier by ‘decoding human thoughts’. What does that mean? Well, right now interaction with our digital devices happens only at 10% of the speed of our thoughts. Given that we spend more than 6.5 hours on our digital devices every day, the result is a massive loss of productivity—time that could be spent on more enjoyable activities.
So, we’ve built privacy-friendly AI text prediction and autocorrection technology that will boost the average person’s productivity by 2-3X over the coming years.
Typewise was founded by myself – David Eberle (CEO) – and my co-founder Janis Berneker (CTO). I have a background in business development and strategy, and Janis is an experienced data scientist; we’ve known each other since school and both wanted to create technology that helps people be more productive.
Our first product is our next-generation keyboard; the legacy QWERTY keyboard was designed for 10-digit typing on mechanical typewriters almost 150 years ago we have redesigned it for the smartphone, enabling people to type faster and more accurately.
The Typewise keyboard is already a hit with over 1 million-plus downloads, what makes it different from other apps in the market?
Typewise has now been downloaded more than 1.4 million times globally and has won praise in the major tech media including Mashable, LifeHacker and Wired.
Our keyboard app’s unique hexagonal layout makes it visibly different from other keyboards, and alongside our proprietary autocorrect and text prediction AI, Typewise offers a faster and more accurate (4 x fewer typos) smartphone typing experience. It also automatically detects 40+ languages, and our AI is unique in that it runs on-device and thus protects data privacy 100%, a must-have for B2B licensing deals.
Can you give us a hint about the next products/projects of Typewise?
Following the ongoing success of Typewise keyboard, we’re currently building desktop products using our proprietary text prediction tech. This allows us to enter the lucrative B2B sector and to diversify our offering and revenue streams.
Specifically, our next steps are:
- License our white-labelled keyboard SDK to messaging platforms (1 deal in negotiation in EU), banks (1 deal in negotiation in EU), advertising platforms (1 deal in negotiation in UK), device OEMs (1 deal in negotiation in USA), etc.
- License our text prediction API to companies in customer service (1 pilot committed in USA, 2-3 additional pilots in negotiation in USA/Japan/India), and further expand into adjacent verticals (legal and compliance, administration, healthcare, etc.)
Can you explain your collaborations (with ETH Zurich & Innosuisse & Nvidia) what benefits does it bring to the project?
We collaborate with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology’s AI Center (ETH Zurich) to develop our advanced, on-device algorithms which power our autocorrect and text (and emoji) prediction. This collaboration is funded by Innosuisse, Switzerland’s federal innovation agency. Working together with ETH gives us access to cutting-edge knowledge and research which enables us to build the market-leading AI which powers our products.
Typewise is already 150% in overfunding, what would you say to the investors still interested in backing your campaign?
The fact that we smashed our funding target and have now raised over €1.3 million, demonstrates the huge confidence of investors in our product and vision. Our keyboard user numbers are growing rapidly, and with our new B2B offerings coming online soon, now is a great time to join our growth story and get exposure to the lucrative deep-tech sector. We are closing the round very soon though, so if you want to invest, you’ll need to be quick.
How are you planning to spend your funds? And what it means for your investors?
We are on a path to dramatically accelerate our growth and reach 10+ million users over the next 1-2 years. Executing this opportunity requires further product engineering, mainly to develop enterprise functionality, which will be key in achieving our ambitious revenue targets. At the same time, we will persistently build out our marketing and sales machinery to further gain a strong foothold in Europe, the US, and beyond.
60% of raised funds will be allocated to tech and product engineering:
- Make our keyboard solution ready for international expansion and SDK delivery
- Bring our AI tech to desktops, to serve B2B pilots and demonstrate value in enterprise environments
40% of raised funds will flow towards growth:
- Reach 5-10 million app installs, thus building a global brand
- Build up business development team, focusing on US market
We’re building the future of AI-powered human-machine interaction to make life easier and more efficient.
Any other interesting updates/information that you want to share with us!
Despite doing no advertising or promotion in the LATAM region, our user numbers have grown significant across the region, and Typewise has been covered by major news outlets including La Lista in Mexico, Entreprenerd in Chile and IT en Linea in Colombia – so we believe there is excellent growth opportunities ahead for this part of the world.
