Speakeasy Labs, the developer of the AI English learning solution “Speak,” has successfully secured a Series B3 investment of KRW 30 billion. This recent funding round values the company at approximately KRW 700 billion, positioning it among the ranks of potential unicorns. Buckley Ventures led the investment, with new strategic investors including Paul Graham and Jeff Weiner joining the team. Existing investors, such as the OpenAI Startup Fund and Khosla Ventures, also participated in this round.

Since beginning with a seed investment in 2016, Speak has raised KRW 70 billion in Series A and B investments by 2022. Following last year’s Series B2, this latest KRW 30 billion investment brings the total to KRW 115 billion, solidifying its status as an emerging unicorn.

Speakeasy Labs stated that they secured significant funding by demonstrating the business viability and technical prowess of their AI language learning platform. Earlier this year, Speak improved its speech recognition model using its own audio datasets, achieving a reduction in word error rate (WER) by over 60% and enhancing processing speed by 20%.

Connor Nikolai Zwick, CEO of Speak, remarked, “For the past seven years, Speak has been addressing the fundamental challenges of English learning, and our AI model is crucial to replicating the experience of one-on-one sessions with native speakers. This investment will allow us to further enhance our interface, propelling Speak to become the leading English learning app worldwide.”

Founded in 2019, Speak is an AI-based English speaking application that uses voice recognition technology. It moves away from traditional rote learning of vocabulary and grammar, instead fostering confident English conversation through learning and repeating speaking patterns suited to specific situations. Currently, Speak is used by over 10 million people across more than 40 countries, with the user base more than doubling annually over the last five years.