Speak, a leading AI language learning platform, recently announced the completion of Series C financing of US$78 million, with a valuation of US$1 billion. This financing highlights Speak’s strong commitment to revolutionizing language education, specifically improving oral fluency. Speak was founded in 2016 by alumni of Harvard and Stanford universities. Its unique AI-driven courses help global learners effectively improve their language skills by combining advanced artificial intelligence and expert-designed content. Its core concept is to emphasize the importance of oral practice and use AI technology to provide learners with personalized, dynamically adjusted learning content and real-time feedback.
Recently, Speak, the world's leading AI learning platform, announced the completion of a US$78 million Series C financing and reached a valuation of US$1 billion. This financing marks the company’s firm determination to drive change in language education and focus on oral fluency.
Founded in 2016 by Harvard and Stanford alumni Connor Zwick and Andrew Xu, Speak has become a leader in language learning, helping the world by combining advanced artificial intelligence with expert-designed content. Learners make progress.
The core idea of Speak is very simple: to learn a language effectively, you first need to speak it out loud. Traditional language learning tools often ignore this important link, resulting in learners still unable to communicate confidently despite years of learning. To bridge this gap, Speak has launched its unique AI-driven courses that dynamically adjust learning content based on user needs. Learners practice hundreds of sentences each week on Speak's platform, improving fluency through repetition and real-time feedback.
The platform’s many features, such as AI-driven live role-playing, allow learners to participate in immersive conversations, simulate real-life scenarios and receive detailed corrections in intonation, pronunciation and grammar. Feedback from users attests to the effectiveness of the app. One Korean user said: "I've tried seven different apps, but Speak is the best for fluency practice. It corrects grammar and pronunciation, and provides natural phrase suggestions. Highly recommended!"
After its success in South Korea, Speak expanded into markets such as Japan, Taiwan and Europe and launched courses in Mandarin, as well as Spanish courses, demonstrating its global ambitions. In order to improve English fluency in the workplace, Speak has also launched the "Speak for Business" enterprise solution to help organizations improve their team's communication skills. More than 200 customers have participated, and 85% of employees have chosen to use this solution.
Speak's success is driven by its commitment to cutting-edge AI and speech recognition technology. The platform's learning guide relies on the most advanced large language model and innovative speech-to-speech technology to create a dynamic and immersive learning experience. Leveraging OpenAI's real-time API, Speak sets a new benchmark in conversational AI, providing users with real-time feedback similar to human interaction.
As an executive- and investor-backed company, Speak has raised $162 million in funding to date and is backed by well-known investors such as Accel, Khosla Ventures, OpenAI Startup Fund, and Y Combinator. The latest Series C round, led by Accel, doubled the company's valuation in just six months. The funds will be used to expand into new markets, develop more language courses and further enhance its AI learning engine.
Speak will continue to innovate and strive to build the world's most advanced AI language tutoring tool, making speaking fluency within reach. "Our mission has always been to make language learning fun, efficient and accessible, and we look forward to helping learners around the world communicate with confidence," said Connor Zwick, CEO of Speak.
Highlight:
? Speak completed US$78 million in Series C financing, with a valuation of US$1 billion, and is committed to transforming language learning.
The company launched AI-driven courses that focus on oral fluency and have helped more than 10 million learners make progress.
? The newly launched “Speak for Business” enterprise solution has more than 200 customers participating in improving workplace English skills.
All in all, Speak has gained market recognition and investor favor with its AI-driven language learning platform that focuses on speaking practice. In the future, Speak will continue to use advanced technology to expand the market, provide global learners with a better language learning experience, and help them confidently communicate across cultures.