Siri co-founder backs Helix’s on-device voice verification

Founded in 2025 by Alex Oberg, Anna Dorofiyenko and Mike Hall, Helix is positioning voice as a way to distinguish people from bots as AI advances. Oberg previously worked at Ticketmaster, where he helped create Verified Fan to keep bots off the platform. Dorofiyenko led data science teams at Live Nation and Zillow, while Hall has worked at Nike and Tinder, helping develop Tinder’s initial matching algorithm.

Chicago Ventures led the funding round. BAM Ventures, Aglaé Ventures, Corazon Capital, Tusk Ventures, Yonder Ventures, Rule30 and Brown Alumni Group also participated. Kittlaus, who co-founded Siri, said voice identification has reached a level of reliability that could help Helix grow as AI-powered fraud increases. He also pointed to the company’s work compressing its models as a potential cost advantage.

Helix says its technology can replace or supplement CAPTCHA and help block bot attacks. It can run locally, including on an iPhone 13, which the company says makes deployment inexpensive. One customer, in-home healthcare provider Zeel, uses the technology to verify providers visiting customers’ homes. Helix is also exploring checks for workers such as cab drivers and pilots using voice as a possible biomarker for conditions including drunkenness or distress.

Oberg argues that voice checks could offer an alternative to age-verification systems that require users to surrender privacy. He described the process as a “four-second voice challenge.” He also said the technology cannot reliably tell whether someone is lying, does not identify individual speakers and cannot reconstruct a person’s voice from a stored voiceprint, according to the company. Helix does not yet believe it can reliably detect AI agents during live phone calls.