# ELSA, Corp

> ELSA (English Language Speech Assistant) is an AI-powered English pronunciation and speaking coach built on proprietary speech-recognition technology trained on non-native accents. Founded in 2015 by Vu Van and speech scientist Xavier Anguera, the app gives learners real-time, phoneme-level feedback on how they actually sound - not just what they type. It has grown to tens of millions of users across 100+ countries and expanded from a consumer app into ELSA Business, ELSA Schools, an API, and a generative-AI conversation tool called ELSA AI Tutor.

- **Founded:** 2015
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founders:** Vu Van (Co-founder & CEO), Xavier Anguera (Co-founder & Chief Scientist)
- **Team size:** ~200-250 employees
- **Products:** ELSA Speak (app), ELSA AI Tutor, ELSA Business, ELSA Schools, ELSA Speech Analyzer / API
- **Notable:** Named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer (2024), Cited among Forbes' top AI companies, Backed by Google's AI fund Gradient Ventures

## Products & services

- **ELSA Speak (app)** — Consumer mobile app that gives real-time, phoneme-level feedback on English pronunciation, intonation, and fluency using proprietary speech recognition.
- **ELSA AI Tutor** — Generative-AI conversation partner that holds open-ended spoken conversations and delivers in-depth, real-time pronunciation and feedback.
- **ELSA Business** — Enterprise offering that brings ELSA's speech engine to corporate English-communication training and workforce enablement.
- **ELSA Schools** — Solution for educators and institutions with learning analytics and teacher resources.
- **ELSA Speech Analyzer / API** — Speech-assessment tools and an API that let organizations embed ELSA's pronunciation-scoring technology.

## Achievements

- Named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer (2024)
- Cited among Forbes' top AI companies
- Backed by Google's AI fund Gradient Ventures
- 50M+ app downloads with 1.6M+ reviews
- Reported pronunciation-error detection accuracy above 95%
- Raised roughly $60M in total funding across four rounds
- Used by learners in 100+ countries

## Latest updates

- **2023-09** — Raised $23M Series C led by UOB Venture Management and launched ELSA AI Tutor, a generative-AI conversation and feedback tool.
- **2024** — Recognized as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer.
- **2025** — Named Akshaya Aradhya (ex-GitHub, Netflix, LiveRamp) as CTO, strengthening the AI leadership bench.

## Links

- Website: https://elsaspeak.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/elsa-corp
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/elsa_speak
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ELSASpeak
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elsaspeak/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/elsaspeak/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elsaspeak

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/elsa-corp
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-12