Speak leverages AI technologies such as natural language processing to help people learn new languages. Credit: Luis Villasmil/ Unsplash.

Speak, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform for learning language, has raised $16m in Series B-2 funding round.  

Lachy Groom led the round, which was joined by Speak’s existing investors including OpenAI Startup Fund.

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The Dropbox founders, Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, as well as new institutional investors Neo and GSV also joined the round as new strategic investors.

With this funding, the total funds raised by the startup since inception in 2016 reached $63m.

San Francisco-based Speak, which leverages AI technologies such as natural language processing, is currently operational in 20 nations including Brazil, France, Germany, Mexico, South Korea and Taiwan.

The company said it will use the funding to speed up the development of its AI platform, expand into global markets and increase its team to support operations.

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By the end of this year, Speak added that it hopes to bring its AI-powered tutor to the majority of the world’s major markets.

It is also getting ready to launch in the US to give English speakers the opportunity to study foreign languages.

Speak CEO Connor Zwick said: “It has been incredible to see that the learning experience we spent years honing in a single market, South Korea, has proven to resonate with almost no modifications needed in markets and cultures across the globe.”

Investor Lachy Groom added: “Education will continue to be a sector most profoundly transformed by AI. There are far fewer teachers than learners, meaning this type of solution is not cheap and does not scale.

“Speak’s mission and approach to create a human-level, AI-powered tutor gives learners around the world access to conversational practice without paying a premium for a live tutor on the other end.” said investor.