Helix, a voice-identity verification startup, raised $6.2 million in a Series A round led by Chicago Ventures. The round included participation from BAM Ventures, Aglaé Ventures, Corazon Capital, Press On Ventures, Tusk Ventures, Yonder Ventures, Rule 30, and Brown Angel Group.
Dag Kittlaus, Siri's co-founder, backed the company and will serve as an adviser. The startup replaces traditional verification methods like CAPTCHA with voice technology that runs locally on devices, including older iPhones, to confirm users are human and estimate age.
Helix was founded in 2025 by Alex Oberg, Anna Dorofiyenko, and Mike Hall. Oberg previously created Verified Fan at Ticketmaster, which was acquired. Dorofiyenko led data science teams at Live Nation and Zillow. Hall developed matching algorithms at Tinder and worked at Nike.
The company's core technology requires only a four-second voice challenge and operates without storing identifiable voiceprints. Oberg said the technology addresses the need for human verification as AI agents proliferate online. He noted that age-verification regulations globally force users to surrender privacy, whereas Helix's approach preserves it.
Zeel, an in-home healthcare provider, uses Helix's technology to verify workers. The startup is also piloting voice as a biomarker to detect conditions like drunkenness or distress, and exploring use cases in worker verification for roles like cabdrivers.
Oberg acknowledged limitations. The technology cannot reliably detect lying and is not yet capable of reliably identifying AI agents during live calls. Kittlaus said Helix's compressed models provide a cost advantage as AI-powered fraud increases.