# Thibault Duchemin

> Thibault Duchemin is the French cofounder and CEO of Ava, a communication access company developing live captions and text-to-speech tools. Trained at École des Ponts ParisTech and UC Berkeley, he built Ava with Skinner Cheng and Pieter Doevendans after user interviews redirected an early sign-language glove prototype toward group conversations. His work combines engineering, personal experience across signing and spoken environments, and a stated ambition for communication access throughout everyday life.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Ava
- **Organizations:** Ava
- **From:** Paris, France
- **Nationality:** French
- **Education:** Master of Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, University of California, Berkeley, Engineering studies; engineering graduate, École des Ponts ParisTech
- **Known for:** Forbes 30 Under 30, Consumer Technology, 2017, with Ava cofounders., Innovators Under 35 Europe, 2017., Overall Best prize at a Berkeley startup competition in 2013.

## Career timeline

- **2013** — Won Overall Best at a Berkeley startup competition with a sign-language glove prototype; subsequent user interviews redirected the project toward group-conversation captioning.
- **2014** — Completed Berkeley M.Eng.; cofounded the venture that became Ava with Skinner Cheng and Pieter Doevendans.
- **2015** — Published an introduction to Ava under the Transcense name; Partech invested through its seed fund.
- **2016** — Ava publicly launched in San Francisco in November.
- **2017** — Named with Ava cofounders to Forbes Consumer Technology 30 Under 30; recognized by Innovators Under 35 Europe.
- **2022** — Ava raised a $10 million Series A led by Khosla Ventures.
- **2024** — Discussed the launch of Ava Voice and participated in EELISA’s One Night to Innovate.
- **2025** — Announced Ava’s captioning and translation role for the AI Action Summit and Business Day in Paris in February.

## Achievements

- Forbes 30 Under 30, Consumer Technology, 2017, with Ava cofounders.
- Innovators Under 35 Europe, 2017.
- Overall Best prize at a Berkeley startup competition in 2013.
- Cofounded Ava and led its development from mobile group captions to a broader suite of communication tools.

## Latest updates

- **2025-02** — Announced attendance at the AI Action Summit and its Station F Business Day, with Ava providing live captioning and translation as a communication access partner.
- **2024-07** — Described his sister using Ava in her work as a lawyer, including at trial, in a Real Leaders interview.
- **2024-05** — Discussed Ava Voice, text-to-speech participation, and the contributions of mobile engineering lead Alexandre Bécourt.

## Links

- Website: https://www.ava.me/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thibaultduchemin/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/iam_thibo
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iam_thibo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thibault.duchemin

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/thibault-duchemin
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25