Insider Brief
- BoldVoice raised a $21 million Series A led by Matrix, with participation from Flybridge, Xfund, Corazon Capital, Alumni Ventures, Umami Capital, and Y Combinator, as the company surpassed five million downloads and $10 million in ARR.
- The platform uses proprietary AI speech models to deliver real-time, phoneme-level pronunciation feedback and expert-guided coaching for non-native English speakers across more than 150 countries.
- Co-founders Anada Lakra and Ilya Usorov said the funding will support global expansion and new AI-powered coaching capabilities aimed at removing accent-related career barriers.
PRESS RELEASE — BoldVoice, the AI-powered voice coaching platform for non-native English speakers, announced its $21 million Series A round led by Matrix, with participation from Flybridge, Xfund, Corazon Capital, Alumni Ventures, Umami Capital and Y Combinator. To date, BoldVoice has surpassed five million downloads, serves professionals in more than 150 countries and recently crossed $10 million in ARR. The funding will accelerate global expansion and the development of new AI-powered coaching capabilities and proprietary speech models.
An estimated 70–75% of English speakers are non-native, making English the universal language of the global economy. In today’s workplace, professionals increasingly rely on English for meetings, presentations and client interactions across regions and time zones. Yet for more than one billion non-native English speakers, pronunciation and clarity can directly impact professional outcomes. Research shows that speakers with foreign accents are less likely to be promoted, underscoring a persistent and largely unaddressed barrier to career advancement.
BoldVoice is built to break the invisible barrier non-native English professionals face. The platform helps users improve their speech clarity and confidence with real-time pronunciation feedback alongside expert-guided coaching. Users record their voice and receive instant, phoneme-level feedback from proprietary speech models trained for accent and pronunciation analysis. Combined with video lessons from expert voice and accent coaches, the platform enables daily practice and measurable improvement.
“AI has transformed how we write, but spoken communication — where teams actually build trust and close deals — has been left behind. We’re fixing that,” said Anada Lakra, co-founder and CEO of BoldVoice. “We’re giving a billion non-native English speakers a personal voice coach.”
Ilya Usorov, co-founder and CTO of BoldVoice, added, “Speech feedback only works if it is extremely precise. General speech recognition systems aren’t designed to hear the nuances of accented speech. At BoldVoice, we’re building the ears on the machine with AI models trained specifically for accent and pronunciation analysis, so we can deliver precise and actionable feedback in real time.”
Alternatives like traditional speech and accent coaching are expensive and difficult to access, often costing between $200–300 per hour. BoldVoice offers unlimited, on-demand practice for less than the cost of a single coaching session over an entire year, making high-quality speaking improvement accessible at a global scale.
“There are millions of non-native English speakers whose careers are held back by something coachable — and BoldVoice has built the AI to coach it at scale,” said Kojo Osei, Partner at Matrix. “They’re defining a new category in professional communication and we’re excited to support their growth.”
Founded by Lakra and Usorov after experiencing these challenges firsthand, BoldVoice has scaled rapidly with just seven employees, demonstrating the strength of its AI-native product and market demand.
The BoldVoice app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store and more information can be found at boldvoice.com. The company is hiring across growth, product and engineering.
About BoldVoice:
BoldVoice is an AI-powered voice coaching platform for non-native English speakers that helps professionals worldwide communicate clearly and confidently. Combining real-time AI feedback on pronunciation with expert-guided coaching, the platform supports individuals and companies in improving spoken English across global teams. Founded by Anada Lakra and Ilya Usorov, BoldVoice has backing from Matrix Partners, Flybridge, Xfund, Corazon Capital, Liquid 2, Alumni Ventures, Umami Capital and Y Combinator. The app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Learn more at boldvoice.com.
About Matrix:
Matrix is an early-stage venture capital firm investing from idea through Series A. As a close-knit team of former founders and company builders, Matrix partners with companies with deep technical expertise and a clear vision of the future. The firm has backed industry-defining companies including Apple, FedEx, Canva and Oculus.
