Opearlo
Opearlo's mission is to help companies put Voice First, offering a Voice Analytics platform & Voice App Design & Implementation.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | investor investor | €0.0 | round |
| N/A | €0.0 | round | |
* | N/A | Acquisition | |
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
Opearlo, founded in London in 2016 by Oscar Merry and Jess Williams, established itself in the voice application development space. The founders' journey began in 2015 while they were at Accenture, where they gained initial experience creating skills for Amazon's Alexa. This background directly influenced the formation of Opearlo, which initially operated as an agency building custom voice applications for corporate clients such as Unilever and Diageo.
The company's trajectory shifted in 2017 when it was accepted into the Y Combinator accelerator program. This marked a pivot from a business-to-business agency model to developing its own consumer-facing voice applications for platforms like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. The firm secured seed funding from investors including Y Combinator and Catapult VC. Opearlo's business model transitioned to focus on creating and managing a portfolio of these voice apps, which included productivity tools, games, and educational experiences.
One of its most prominent products was "Find My Phone," an Alexa skill that became top-rated in the productivity category. This application utilized Vonage APIs for phone number verification via SMS and for placing calls to a user's lost device. Other notable skills developed by the studio included interactive games like "Panda Rescue" and "Guess My Name," as well as wellness apps like "Daily Stretch". In November 2019, Matchbox.io, a developer of voice experiences, acquired all of Opearlo's Alexa skills, including the popular "Find My Phone". Following this transaction, co-founder Jess Williams announced her departure, marking the end of her direct involvement with the voice apps she helped create.
Keywords: voice application development, Amazon Alexa skills, Google Assistant apps, voice app design, consumer voice apps, Y Combinator alumni, voice analytics, voice user interface, Find My Phone app, Panda Rescue game, Guess My Name game, Jess Williams, Oscar Merry, Matchbox.io acquisition, voice-first technology, productivity voice tools, educational games, interactive stories, voice API integration, custom Alexa skills