One of the standout applications of modern AI is its improved understanding of the human voice, leading to more accurate dictation tools. A new tool for Mac users, Willow, is launching an iOS app that allows users to type by voice across all apps.
Similar to Wispr Flow, Willow’s keyboard transcribes your voice and formats messages based on context. The app, supporting over 100 languages, also lets you create custom vocabulary and different writing styles tailored for various categories like work, messaging, and email.
A key advantage of Willow’s app is that it features a full keyboard for typing, while Wispr Flow only has a numeric keyboard. This makes quick edits easier, letting you tweak words or sentences without needing to type everything out. Plus, if you want to write something instead of speaking, you don’t have to switch to another keyboard.
Willow was co-founded by Allan Guo and Lawrence Liu, who dropped out of Stanford to start their own venture. Guo, who joined Y Combinator in the summer of 2024 with different co-founders, initially focused on healthcare software for assisted living facilities. When that didn’t click, the team spent a year exploring other ideas.
“While working on healthcare solutions, we observed that doctors used voice AI scribes to record patient conversations and create follow-up documents. They found these notetakers very useful, which inspired us to develop a voice AI tool for knowledge workers and other users,” Guo told TechCrunch in a call.
Guo opted not to create another AI notetaker because he felt the market was already crowded. Instead, the dictation space seemed more promising since much communication happens outside of meetings. The company is fine-tuning its text-to-text pipeline, based on Meta’s Llama models, to enhance formatting and personalization.
The startup then shifted its Y Combinator batch to Spring 2025 for the product launch. Since then, it has experienced a 50% month-over-month growth in users, attracting enterprise clients like Uber, Heidi Health, and Zeg for dictation, complete with features like custom team vocabulary.
Willow has raised $4.5 million from Box Group, Y Combinator, Burst Capital, and several angel investors, including HubSpot’s Dharmesh Shah; Gusto’s Tomer London; Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian; former Yelp COO Kipp Bodnar; Opendoor CEO Kaz Nejatian; Adam Guild, co-founder and CEO of the restaurant software company Owner; and Instacart co-founder Max Mullen.
Mullen believes that future user interfaces will be predominantly voice-driven. “I was really impressed with Allan’s vision not just to create an excellent dictation app, but also to ultimately develop an interface that can control your computer,” he commented. “When I use Willow, I find I need to make fewer edits compared to my computer’s built-in dictation system.”
Mullen also highlighted one of his favorite workflows: on desktop, you can instruct the app to write tasks like email replies in your own voice using the “Hey Willow” assistant.
The startup is up against competitors like Wispr Flow, which has secured over $56 million in funding; Monologue, part of Every’s subscription bundle; and other Y Combinator-backed companies like Aqua, Talktastic, Superwhisper, and Betterdication.
Guo mentioned that in the coming months, the plan includes expanding to Windows and Android platforms, along with enhancements for better personalization to minimize manual edits after dictation.
