This Speak company profile covers the company's valuation, revenue, funding rounds, investors and history. Speak works in education technology, with a focus on AI language learning. It was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. Its latest valuation on record is US$1 billion (December 2024). Every figure links to a public source, and anything the company hasn't disclosed is marked as such.
Revenue
| Metric | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learners | More than 10 million (company-stated) | December 2024 | Maginative |
| Total funding | About US$162 million | December 2024 | Maginative |
Funding history
| Date | Round | Amount | Valuation | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2024 | Series C | US$78M | US$1B | Accel (lead); OpenAI Startup Fund, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator | TechCrunch |
| Jun 2024 | Series B extension | US$20M | About US$500M | See source | TechCrunch |
Speak timeline
Key dates from the sources on this page, oldest first. Metric snapshots are listed after the funding events.
- 2016 — Speak is founded in San Francisco by Connor Zwick (CEO) and Andrew Hsu.
- Jun 2024 — Series B extension: US$20M, valuing the company at About US$500M.
- Dec 2024 — Series C: US$78M, valuing the company at US$1B. Investors: Accel (lead); OpenAI Startup Fund, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator.
- December 2024 — Learners: More than 10 million (company-stated).
- December 2024 — Total funding: About US$162 million.
Investors
Speak is a language learning app built around talking out loud to an AI tutor rather than tapping through quizzes. Backed by OpenAI's startup fund, it became a unicorn in December 2024 with a US$78 million Series C led by Accel at a US$1 billion valuation. It is especially popular in South Korea and Japan for learning English. This profile covers Speak's valuation, how its product works, its business model and its competition with Duolingo and AI chatbots.
Speak's valuation
Speak's last priced round was a US$78 million Series C in December 2024, led by Accel with the OpenAI Startup Fund, Khosla Ventures and Y Combinator, at a US$1 billion valuation, according to TechCrunch. That doubled the roughly US$500 million valuation from a US$20 million Series B extension in June 2024, according to TechCrunch. Total funding reached about US$162 million, according to Maginative. We found no newer priced round as of October 2026.
How Speak teaches
Most language apps focus on vocabulary and grammar through multiple-choice exercises. Speak's premise is that the hardest part of learning a language is speaking it, and that many learners are too shy to practise with people. The app guides users through short lessons in which they repeat phrases, answer questions and hold role-play conversations, such as ordering at a restaurant or a job interview, with an AI that listens to their pronunciation and responds.
The AI gives instant feedback on pronunciation, grammar and word choice, and adapts to the learner's level. Speak was an early partner of OpenAI and has used its speech and language models to make conversations more natural, alongside its own speech recognition tuned for non-native speakers. The result is unlimited speaking practice at a fraction of the cost of a human tutor.
Markets and users
Speak launched first in South Korea, a large market where adults spend heavily on English learning for careers and education, and it became one of the country's top-grossing education apps. It has since expanded to Japan, Taiwan, Latin America and Europe, and added languages beyond English, including Spanish and French for English speakers. The company said in 2024 that more than 10 million learners had used it. It also sells to employers that train staff in English.
Business model
Speak earns most of its revenue from subscriptions, typically monthly or annual, with a free trial. Its prices sit between free apps and human tutoring. Earlier reporting said it had more than 100,000 active subscribers and double-digit millions of dollars in annual recurring revenue at the time; it has not published current figures. Subscription businesses like this depend on keeping learners motivated long enough to renew, which is why Speak emphasises daily practice and visible progress.
Founders
Connor Zwick, the chief executive, and Andrew Hsu founded Speak in 2016. Both were Thiel Fellows who skipped university to start companies, and they built Speak around speech technology from the start, years before large language models made conversational AI widely available.
Competitive landscape
Speak competes with Duolingo, the market leader, which has added AI conversation features to its premium tiers; with Babbel, Busuu and Memrise; with tutoring marketplaces such as Preply and italki; and with general AI assistants such as ChatGPT, which can also hold practice conversations. Its edge is a structured curriculum built for speaking, strong speech recognition for non-native accents and a head start in Asian markets. See our guide to edtech unicorns.
Risks
- General AI competition: free chatbots with voice can do some of what Speak does.
- Duolingo: a much larger rival is adding similar features.
- Retention: language learners often give up, which hurts subscription renewals.
- Market concentration: much of its revenue has come from South Korea.
- Dependence on AI providers: it relies partly on outside models whose prices and terms can change.
Questions to ask
- How many paying subscribers does Speak have, and how fast is revenue growing?
- What share of revenue comes outside South Korea?
- How do learners' speaking skills improve, measured independently?
- Is the company profitable?
Timeline in brief
- 2016: founded by Connor Zwick and Andrew Hsu.
- 2019: launches in South Korea.
- 2022: OpenAI Startup Fund invests.
- June 2024: US$20 million extension at about US$500 million.
- December 2024: US$78 million Series C at US$1 billion.
Speak at a glance
Speak is a San Francisco AI language learning company founded in 2016 by Connor Zwick and Andrew Hsu. Its app teaches speaking through conversations with an AI tutor and is especially popular for learning English in South Korea and Japan. It raised a US$78 million Series C led by Accel in December 2024 at a US$1 billion valuation, with the OpenAI Startup Fund among its investors, bringing total funding to about US$162 million.
How Speak compares with Duolingo
Duolingo, which is listed in the US, is the world's largest language app, with a free, game-like model funded by ads and subscriptions. It is designed to build habits, with streaks and short lessons, and it covers dozens of languages. Speak is narrower and more intensive: it focuses on speaking practice, particularly English for adults in Asia, and charges a subscription without a free, ad-supported tier. Speak's users are often learning for work or study and are willing to pay for faster progress in conversation.
Duolingo has responded by adding AI conversation features, such as video calls with an AI character, to its premium plans. That puts the two companies in more direct competition. Speak's argument is that a product built entirely around speaking, with speech recognition tuned for non-native accents, delivers better results for people whose main goal is to talk.
Valuation context
A US$1 billion valuation is small next to Duolingo's public market value, but substantial for a focused subscription app. It implies investors expect Speak to grow revenue strongly across Asia and new languages. Its next valuation will depend on whether it can keep subscribers as general AI assistants offer free voice conversation practice.
What to watch
Watch for a new funding round, growth in new languages and markets, enterprise deals and how it differentiates as AI assistants improve. See our most valuable AI startups guide.
Takeaways
Speak was one of the first consumer apps to build a business on conversational AI. Its challenge is staying ahead as voice AI becomes cheap and widespread.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from the public sources below. Where sources disagreed, we used the company's own announcement or a primary news report. Private-company data changes; check the date beside each figure.
Frequently asked questions
What does Speak do?
Speak is a education technology / ai language learning company headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. It was founded in 2016.
What is Speak's valuation?
Speak was valued at US$1 billion as of December 2024, according to TechCrunch. Private company valuations are set at funding rounds or share sales and can change significantly between them.
How much revenue does Speak make?
Speak is a private company and has not publicly disclosed its revenue. Figures on third-party sites are usually modelled estimates rather than numbers reported by the company.
What was Speak's latest funding round?
The most recent financing we have verified is a series c in Dec 2024: US$78M, at a valuation of US$1B. Source: TechCrunch.
Who are Speak's investors?
Investors named in public announcements include Accel, OpenAI Startup Fund, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator and Founders Fund.
Who founded Speak?
Speak was founded in 2016 by Connor Zwick (CEO) and Andrew Hsu.
Is Speak a public company?
No. Speak is a private company (private, venture backed), so its shares are not traded on a stock exchange and it isn't required to publish its financial results.
Where is Speak headquartered?
Speak is headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States.