AI Tutor Speak Hits $1B Valuation with $78M Series C Funding.

San Francisco, CA - Language learning technology company SpeakEasy Labs (“Speak”) has secured $78 million in Series C funding led by Accel, achieving a $1 billion valuation in its latest funding round.

The investment represents the company's second preempted raise this year, and its valuation has doubled over the past six months. 

The funding round included participation from existing investors OpenAI Startup Fund, Khosla Ventures, and Y Combinator, bringing the total capital raised to $162 million.

Speak's AI-powered platform has facilitated more than one billion spoken sentences from users this year. 

Through its proprietary learning method and adaptive AI technology, the company focuses on spoken language fluency. 

In 2024, the company generated over 25 million personalized lessons for its users, tailoring the learning experience to individual needs.

The eight-year-old company recently expanded into the enterprise market with its corporate offering, Speak for Business, which has attracted more than 200 customers across various industries. 

The enterprise solution has achieved an 85 percent adoption rate among employee users.

Accel partner Ben Quazzo, who will join Speak's board of directors, cited the company's growth trajectory and market potential in consumer AI as driving factors for the investment.

The company plans to enhance its platform with advanced language models and speech technology developments to create a fully dynamic learning experience. 

Speak has announced plans to expand its services to additional countries in 2025.

Connor Zwick, Speak's CEO, and co-founder, said the company remains focused on building the most effective way to achieve spoken fluency through AI tutoring, addressing what he described as a historically offline and outdated learning approach.