(Reuters) – Speak, an artificial intelligence (AI)-backed English language learning platform, announced on Thursday that it has secured $16 million in a recent funding round led by venture capitalist Lachy Groom. The funding round, which saw participation from existing investor OpenAI Startup Fund and new investors such as Dropbox founders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, brings Speak’s total funding to $63 million. The company intends to use the funds to expand into international markets, according to a statement.
The specific valuation and user numbers of Speak were not disclosed in the email response to Reuters. However, Lachy Groom’s Fund had previously participated in Speak’s funding round, raising $20 million.
The impressive success of OpenAI’s conversational bot, ChatGPT, has sparked a competitive race among various AI firms, including Google-backed Runway and Microsoft-backed Inflection AI, as investors seek the next major breakthrough in this rapidly advancing technology.
Speak, based in San Francisco and founded in 2016, boasts users in over 20 countries, including Japan, Taiwan, Germany, France, Brazil, and Mexico, the company revealed.
OpenAI Startup Fund, backed by Microsoft and other OpenAI partners, has committed $100 million to invest in AI companies, specifically targeting early-stage startups in sectors such as healthcare, climate change, and education, as stated on their website.
Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee
Credit: The Star : Tech Feed
