BoldVoice, the AI-powered voice coaching platform for non-native English speakers, has raised $21 million in a Series A round led by Matrix, with participation from Flybridge, Xfund, Corazon Capital, Alumni Ventures, Umami Capital, and Y Combinator. The funding will fuel global expansion and the advancement of new AI coaching features and proprietary speech models. The company has now surpassed five million downloads, serves users in over 150 countries, and recently crossed $10 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR).
Quick Intel
An estimated 70–75% of English speakers worldwide are non-native, and English remains the dominant language of global business, meetings, presentations, and client interactions. Yet pronunciation difficulties and foreign accents continue to hinder career progression, with research indicating lower promotion rates for accented speakers—a largely unaddressed professional obstacle affecting over one billion people.
BoldVoice addresses this gap by combining real-time AI pronunciation analysis with guided coaching from expert voice and accent coaches. Users record speech and receive instant, detailed feedback at the phoneme level, enabling targeted practice and confidence-building. The platform supports professionals in improving clarity for high-stakes communication while preserving individual voice and identity.
"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."
Traditional accent coaching remains expensive and inaccessible for most, often costing hundreds of dollars per session. BoldVoice delivers unlimited, personalized practice for less than the price of a single traditional session over a full year, making high-quality improvement scalable and affordable worldwide.
"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 facing these challenges personally, BoldVoice has achieved rapid traction with a small team, underscoring strong product-market fit and demand for AI-native solutions in professional communication. The company is actively hiring in growth, product, and engineering roles.
The BoldVoice app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, with more details at boldvoice.com.
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.
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