Loora Raises $12M for Generative AI English Teacher
Generative AI education startup Loora has raised $12 million in a Series A funding round led by QP Ventures. The audio AI English tutor converses with students through a mobile app, leveraging large language models (LLMs) to discuss an array of subjects while simulating a human teacher.
Loora Education
Loora’s AI educator operates through a mobile app and with personalized coaching and real-time feedback to help users gain practical English fluency. The platform allows learners to practice English through roleplaying, technical conversations, and social interactions based on their interests and long-term goals. There is a mix of large language models underlying Loora’s app, fine-tuned and trained on the startup’s data. The app processes what a user says with a speech-to-text model and picks the LLM to respond depending on the topic or conversational style. Loora then translates the response back into speech.
Loora has been rapidly accumulating investment capital over the last year. The startup raised $9.25 million when it emerged last summer after about three years in stealth. And there’s enormous demand for individualized English education, with one study projecting a 2030 global English learning market of more than $70 billion. A majority of Loora users cite professional needs as the motivation for signing up. Loora boasts an eight-fold increase in annual recurring revenue and doubled user retention in 2023, with thousands of subscribers paying $15 a month or $120 a year.
“Gaining English fluency can drastically improve peoples’ prospects, whether they’re looking to advance in their professional or personal lives. We’re excited to have quickly built a reality in which Loora is utilizing AI for good, enabling our rapidly growing community of learners across the globe to improve their lives with this new technology,” Loora CEO Roy Mor said. “Building AI that can guide and support learners throughout their journey to achieving English fluency in an effective, engaging, and personalized way is a significant technological endeavor.”
Loora isn’t alone in integrating generative AI into education, including language learning. For instance, OpenAI and Duolingo have partnered to produce generative AI features for the language education app, and Google Search embedded interactive language practice into its platform. There’s also plenty of interest in generative AI for education on a broader scale. Edtech developer Kyron raised $14.6 million for augmenting video lessons created by teachers with generative AI tests and conversation, while generative AI-produced quizzes and flashcards requested by students landed edtech startup Gizmo $3.5 million last October.
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