Roy Raanani, Micha Y. Breakstone and Russell Levy: The Chorus.ai Founders Behind $575M ZoomInfo acquisition

Meet Roy Raanani, Micha Y. Breakstone and Russell Levy, examine Chorus.ai's product thesis and understand the verified $575M ZoomInfo acquisition milestone.

Chorus.ai founder profile presentation
Research-based founder profile
Table of Contents
  1. Chorus.ai founders and financing at a glance
  2. Who is Roy Raanani?
  3. Who is Micha Y. Breakstone?
  4. Who is Russell Levy?
  5. Why the founders built Chorus.ai
  6. What Chorus.ai does
  7. What makes the founder thesis distinctive?
  8. Chorus.ai financing and transaction history
  9. What the latest milestone was intended to change
  10. Founder and company timeline
  11. The founders' public thesis
  12. Strengths, risks and unresolved questions
  13. Evidence to watch over the next 12 to 18 months
  14. Frequently asked questions

Roy Raanani, Micha Y. Breakstone and Russell Levy founded Chorus.ai, the conversation intelligence and sales coaching platform business now serving sales, revenue operations, enablement and customer-success teams. Roy Raanani is Co-founder and founding CEO; Micha Y. Breakstone is Co-founder; Russell Levy is Co-founder and CTO.

The latest material financing milestone covered here is $575M ZoomInfo acquisition, dated 2021-07-13. The relevant total is $85.2M company-reported financing before acquisition, labelled as acquisition value was approximately $575M in an all-cash transaction. It is company-level capital or transaction value—not founder net worth.

Chorus.ai official company page

Authentic Chorus.ai website evidence captured on 21 July 2026.

Chorus.ai founders and financing at a glance

FieldVerified information
Founding teamRoy Raanani, Micha Y. Breakstone and Russell Levy
Current or documented rolesRoy Raanani: Co-founder and founding CEO; Micha Y. Breakstone: Co-founder; Russell Levy: Co-founder and CTO
CompanyChorus.ai — chorus.ai
Founded2015
Headquarters or operating scopeSan Francisco, California, United States; Tel Aviv, Israel
Product categoryConversation intelligence and sales coaching platform
Primary customerSales, revenue operations, enablement and customer-success teams
Latest financing milestone$575M ZoomInfo acquisition, 2021-07-13
Total or transaction value$85.2M company-reported financing before acquisition — acquisition value was approximately $575M in an all-cash transaction
Public statusPrivately held or part of an acquirer
Last verified21 July 2026

Who is Roy Raanani?

Roy Raanani is Co-founder and founding CEO at Chorus.ai. Roy Raanani's role should be read in its current context: founder status is permanent, while executive responsibility can change as a company scales, lists publicly or is acquired.

Founder profile: Connect with Roy Raanani on LinkedIn.

Portrait of Roy Raanani, Co-founder and founding CEO at Chorus.ai

Chorus.ai founders Roy Raanani, Russell Levy and Micha Y. Breakstone, left to right, in attributed company photography.

In the founding team, Roy Raanani contributed to the combination of product judgment, technical execution and go-to-market work behind Chorus.ai. The public evidence does not justify claims about private ownership, personal wealth or undisclosed internal responsibilities.

Who is Micha Y. Breakstone?

Micha Y. Breakstone is Co-founder at Chorus.ai. Micha Y. Breakstone's role should be read in its current context: founder status is permanent, while executive responsibility can change as a company scales, lists publicly or is acquired.

Founder profile: Connect with Micha Y. Breakstone on LinkedIn.

Portrait of Micha Y. Breakstone, Co-founder at Chorus.ai

Chorus.ai founders Roy Raanani, Russell Levy and Micha Y. Breakstone, left to right, in attributed company photography.

In the founding team, Micha Y. Breakstone contributed to the combination of product judgment, technical execution and go-to-market work behind Chorus.ai. The public evidence does not justify claims about private ownership, personal wealth or undisclosed internal responsibilities.

Who is Russell Levy?

Russell Levy is Co-founder and CTO at Chorus.ai. Russell Levy's role should be read in its current context: founder status is permanent, while executive responsibility can change as a company scales, lists publicly or is acquired.

Founder profile: Connect with Russell Levy on LinkedIn.

Portrait of Russell Levy, Co-founder and CTO at Chorus.ai

Chorus.ai founders Roy Raanani, Russell Levy and Micha Y. Breakstone, left to right, in attributed company photography.

In the founding team, Russell Levy contributed to the combination of product judgment, technical execution and go-to-market work behind Chorus.ai. The public evidence does not justify claims about private ownership, personal wealth or undisclosed internal responsibilities.

Why the founders built Chorus.ai

Raanani, Breakstone and Levy built Chorus to turn sales conversations into structured evidence for coaching and execution. The founders applied speech recognition and machine learning to calls and meetings so revenue leaders could understand what top performers did, where deals stalled and how customer language changed.

This is documented company history plus editorial assessment. It does not establish private motivations beyond what the founders and company have said publicly.

What Chorus.ai does

Chorus records and analyzes sales calls, meetings and emails. As part of ZoomInfo, it supports conversation intelligence, coaching, relationship intelligence, deal visibility and forecasting using captured buyer interactions.

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What makes the founder thesis distinctive?

The CSV names only Roy Raanani. Contemporary company and acquisition records identify Micha Y. Breakstone and Russell Levy as co-founders. ZoomInfo acquired Chorus in July 2021, so this profile separates the original company from the current ZoomInfo product.

Our assessment is that durable differentiation must show up in customer outcomes, workflow adoption, reliable data movement and lower operating cost—not only in feature count or AI branding.

Chorus.ai financing and transaction history

Announcement dateRound or instrumentAmountLead or named participantsReported useEvidence status
2016Seed$6.3MEmergence Capital and investorsLaunch conversation intelligenceReported
2017Series A$16MRedpoint VenturesScale product and go-to-marketReported
2018Series B$33MGeorgian PartnersExpand enterprise conversation intelligenceReported
28 July 2020Series C$45M; $85.2M total reportedGeorgian Partners, Emergence Capital and investorsProduct development and international growthCompany and press-reported
13 July 2021ZoomInfo acquisitionApproximately $575M cashZoomInfoCombine conversation intelligence with go-to-market dataSEC-confirmed
—Current qualified figure$85.2M company-reported financing before acquisition——acquisition value was approximately $575M in an all-cash transaction

The headline uses $575M ZoomInfo acquisition because it is the clearest recent milestone in the verified record. Different instruments are not silently combined: acquisition consideration, IPO proceeds, primary funding and secondary liquidity have different meanings.

What the latest milestone was intended to change

Public statements connect the milestone to some combination of product investment, AI capability, geographic expansion, hiring, acquisitions or shareholder liquidity. Those plans are attributed intentions, not proof that each outcome occurred. Evidence should include shipped capabilities, adoption, retention, unit economics and customer results after the transaction.

Founder and company timeline

PeriodMilestone
2015Raanani, Breakstone and Levy found Chorus.ai.
2016–2018Chorus raises seed, Series A and Series B financing.
July 2020A $45M Series C brings company-reported funding to $85.2M.
July 2021ZoomInfo agrees to acquire Chorus for approximately $575M cash.
2026Chorus operates as ZoomInfo’s conversation-intelligence product.

The founders' public thesis

Across the available company history, the founders argue that customer data becomes valuable when operating teams can turn it into timely, coordinated action. The exact emphasis differs by company—category creation, accessibility, data ownership, real-time infrastructure or AI-assisted execution—but the test is similar: can a customer make better decisions without adding hidden complexity?

Strengths, risks and unresolved questions

Visible strengths

  • A founding thesis attached to a recurring and measurable marketing workflow.
  • Product history and financing evidence available from primary sources.
  • A platform broad enough to influence data, orchestration and customer communication.

Material risks

  • Recording calls requires consent, notice and compliance with regional communications laws.
  • Transcripts, sentiment and coaching conclusions can be inaccurate or context-poor.
  • The acquisition value is separate from financing, revenue, valuation and founder proceeds.

Questions buyers and researchers should ask

  • Which founder roles are current, and which describe historical service?
  • How is incremental customer or revenue impact measured against a control?
  • What data, consent, model and deliverability controls constrain automated action?
  • Which transaction amounts were primary capital, secondary liquidity or acquisition consideration?
  • What implementation resources are required before the platform produces reliable value?

Evidence to watch over the next 12 to 18 months

Watch for independently explainable retention and expansion, transparent AI evaluation, successful migrations, product delivery tied to the announced financing purpose and current executive-role disclosures. For public companies, filings provide a stronger operating signal than promotional customer counts alone. For private companies, future financing announcements should identify transaction composition clearly.

Frequently asked questions

Who founded Chorus.ai?

Chorus.ai was founded by Roy Raanani, Micha Y. Breakstone and Russell Levy.

What does Chorus.ai do?

Chorus.ai provides conversation intelligence and sales coaching platform capabilities for sales, revenue operations, enablement and customer-success teams.

What is Chorus.ai's latest financing milestone?

The latest milestone verified for this profile is $575M ZoomInfo acquisition, dated 2021-07-13.

How much funding has Chorus.ai raised?

The qualified figure used here is $85.2M company-reported financing before acquisition. Its status is acquisition value was approximately $575M in an all-cash transaction; it should not be interpreted as founder wealth.

What should buyers verify?

Buyers should test data integration, consent controls, measurement, implementation effort, support, exportability and the limits placed on automated or AI-generated actions.

Tolu S.

Tolu S.

Associate Director

Evidence-led product reviews and founder profiles for search, marketing, authority, and AI visibility teams.