Peter-Paul de Leeuw announced that he is stepping down as the founder and CEO of Amsterdam-based Amberscript, a startup specialising in AI-enabled speech-to-text engines. This marks the end of his seven-year journey for the company.
In his farewell statement, de Leeuw expressed a mix of emotions, including pride, gratitude, and excitement for the future, as he hands over the leadership to Jan Willem de Coo.
Peter-Paul de Leeuw’s contributions to Amberscript
Amberscript, founded in 2018, began with a vision to transform audio into text and has since grown into a key player in the speech-to-text technology sector.
Under de Leeuw’s leadership, the company achieved milestones, including the processing of millions of hours of audio data and the development of speech recognition engines that rival those of major tech giants like Google and Microsoft.
The company’s technology has witnessed positive feedback from users, particularly within the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities, who have benefited from improved accuracy and affordability in captioning services.
Amberscript serves paying users in over 90 countries and employs over 100 team members across its offices and remote locations.
De Leeuw mentions in a LinkedIn post, “Seeing our dreams become real has been amazing, and I want to thank everyone who contributed to it. A special thank you to our investors who supported us, especially Diederik Ingen Housz and Paul Montagne, the first to believe in me. The greatest thank you goes to our customers and partners who we continue to place first.”
What’s next?
As Peter-Paul de Leeuw steps away from his role, he plans to take a break before pursuing his next venture, which he hinted would likely focus on growth and technology. He mentioned his intention to spend time in the Netherlands, Brazil, and San Francisco during this period.
De Leeuw invited anyone with potential collaboration opportunities or startup ideas to reach out to him, signalling his commitment to remain active in the entrepreneurial landscape.
He says, “If you have any contacts for me to meet up with, any startup ideas to start a new company with, companies that started but need a push forward or if I can help you out with any growth-related opportunities; please don’t hesitate to reach out.”
“Whatever I will do next, it’s going to involve growth and technology. With the incredible pace of change around us, society is going to be vastly different after the next 7 years. I can’t wait to contribute to it!”
Brief about Amberscript
Founded in 2017 by Peter-Paul de Leeuw, Thomas Dieste and Timo Behrens, Amberscript has created a specialised AI-enabled speech-to-text engine to ease manual transcription efforts.
Its SaaS software enables users to automatically transcribe audio and video into text using speech recognition.
The company claims to produce subtitles with the highest accuracy in the market and deliver eight times faster than traditional manual methods. The platform is used by journalists, scientists, students, doctors, lawyers, and many others globally.
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