# Jennifer Liu

> Jennifer Liu is the cofounder and CEO of Toko, an AI English tutor that got its start when a pandemic-era hack called GPT 奶奶 (an AI grandma built to help her practice Mandarin) revealed a far bigger hunger for spoken English across East Asia. An MIT computer science grad and early Quizlet engineer-turned-PM, Liu turned that side project into a Y Combinator (W22) company that now ranks among the top education apps in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Thailand, with 4.9 stars from 20,000-plus reviewers.

- **Role:** Cofounder & CEO at Toko
- **Organizations:** Toko, Quizlet, Uplevel, MIT
- **Nationality:** American (Taiwanese American)
- **Education:** B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering (EECS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Google Undergraduate Research and Innovation Scholar, MIT SuperUROP - Advanced Undergraduate Research
- **Known for:** Cofounded and leads Toko, an AI English tutor accepted into Y Combinator (Winter 2022), Grew Toko into a top-5 education app in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Thailand, Earned 4.9-star ratings from 20,000-plus reviewers across app stores

## Career timeline

- **2013-2014** — Google Undergraduate Research Scholar at MIT SuperUROP, building NB, a collaborative annotation platform for 'The Future Textbook' under advisor David R. Karger
- **MIT years** — Worked with MIT Global Startup Labs in South Africa and the Ubiquitous Games group on accessible mobile educational games
- **Post-MIT** — Early engineer and later product manager at Quizlet, leading teams around AI-powered learning, mobile subscriptions and international growth
- **Later** — Founded Uplevel, a coach-matching concierge service
- **2020-2021** — During the pandemic, hacked together GPT 奶奶 (an AI grandma) with Erica Du to practice Mandarin using GPT-3
- **2021** — Cofounded Toko with Erica Du, pivoting to an AI English tutor for learners in East Asia
- **2022** — Toko admitted to Y Combinator Winter 2022 batch; raised seed funding
- **Present** — Leads Toko as CEO; app ranks top 5 in education across Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Thailand

## Achievements

- Cofounded and leads Toko, an AI English tutor accepted into Y Combinator (Winter 2022)
- Grew Toko into a top-5 education app in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Thailand
- Earned 4.9-star ratings from 20,000-plus reviewers across app stores
- Named a Google Undergraduate Research and Innovation Scholar at MIT
- Built NB, a collaborative annotation research platform at MIT
- Was an early engineer and PM at Quizlet driving AI learning and international growth

## Latest updates

- **2022-03** — Toko raised seed funding following its Y Combinator W22 batch

## Links

- Website: https://tokotutor.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenkliu/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/jenkliu
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tokotutor

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jennifer-liu
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-01