Speak
Speak is a language learning app that sets users on the path to fluency with the world’s most advanced AI tutor. Built on the core learning philosophy of getting users speaking out loud as much as possible, Speak's AI language-learning experience encourages dynamic two-way dialogue through personalized content and real-time speech recognition. Speak was founded by Connor Zwick and Andrew Hsu in 2016 to democratize access to high quality language education through AI. Backed by Y Combinator, Open AI, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Matrix Partners and more, Speak is a series B startup with a global presence and offices in San Francisco, Seoul, Tokyo, and Ljubljana. Featured by Apple as the ‘App of the Day’ and ‘Best New App’, Speak is hiring across the globe. Come join us as we teach the next billion people English and reinvent the way the world learns, staring with language!
Founding Year
2015
Headquarters
San Francisco
,
United States
Sector(s)
AI
Funding State
Pre-Seed
Seed
Series A
Series B+
Exited
Total Funding Amount
$74.40M
Funds that Investested
OpenAI Startup Fund
Venture arm of OpenAI. Also runs Converge: a highly selective, five-week program for exceptional engineers, designers, researchers, and product builders using AI to reimagine products and industries.
Pre-Seed
Seed
Series A
Series B+
View Profile
Neo
Accelerator, mentorship community, and VC fund led by Ali Partovi.
Pre-Seed
Seed
Series A
Series B+
View Profile
JAM Fund
Led by Tinder founder, Justin Mateen. They invest in visionary founders disrupting large spaces.
Pre-Seed
Seed
Series A
Series B+
View Profile
Buckley Ventures
VC fund founded by Josh Buckley.
Pre-Seed
Seed
Series A
Series B+
View Profile
Y Combinator
Twice a year YC invests $500,000 per company in a large number of startups. They work intensively with the companies for three months, to get them into the best possible shape and refine their pitch to investors. Each cycle culminates in Demo Day when the startups present their companies to a carefully selected, invite-only audience.
Pre-Seed
Seed
Series A
Series B+
View Profile
Khosla Ventures
Broadly, a venture we back offers one or more of the factors: 1. Significant technology or business model innovation 2. “Black Swan” ideas with significant upside or a significantly better mousetrap 3. Large markets, either existing or newly enabled by the innovation at hand 4. Short innovation cycles 5. Upfront risk
Pre-Seed
Seed
Series A
Series B+
View Profile
Founders Fund
SF-based venture capital firm investing in science and technology companies solving difficult problems. The firm invests at all stages across a wide variety of sectors. Founders Fund pursues a founder-friendly investment strategy, providing maximum support with minimum interference.
Pre-Seed
Seed
Series A
Series B+
View Profile
Arash Ferdowsi
Pre-Seed
Seed
Series A
Series B+
View Profile
Investors that Investested
Josh Buckley
Managing Director, Buckley Ventures, Hyper
Previously CEO of Product Hunt and co-founder and CEO of Mino Games, a top 25 grossing mobile gaming company. Investor in companies including Rippling, Retool, Figma, Relativity Space, Boom, Applied Intuition, Alchemy, Flock Safety, Solugen, Vial, Embark, Truebill, Playco, Lattice, Astranis, Vercel, Athelas, NexHealth, ClassDojo, Mux, Clearbit, Mercury, Gecko Robotics and dozens of others Sits on the boards of Playco, NexHealth, Placer and Vial. Formerly Chairman of Clearbit.
Pre-Seed
Seed
Series A
Series B+
Justin Mateen
Founding Partner, JAM Fund
Justin Mateen is a serial seed investor: He’s backed over 120 startups, including the fintech Brex, which announced in January that it reached decacorn status at a $12.3 billion valuation. He is, perhaps, best known as the cofounder of Tinder (although he stepped down as the chief marketing officer of Tinder in 2014). But before he helped build the world’s most popular online dating app, Mateen was already an angel investor, using his own money to back promising startups. In 2009, while Mateen was working on a social network for celebrities, he placed an early bet on the ride-hailing company Lyft. It went public at a valuation of $24 billion a decade later. Recently he backed Deel which landed a $5.5 billion valuation in 2021. And his investing firm, Jam Fund, raised about $300 million from investors for its second fund last year.
Pre-Seed
Seed
Series A
Series B+
Round-focused Sheets
Geography-focused Sheets
Sector-focused Sheets
