Link: Praktika raises $35.5M to use AI avatars to make learning languages feel more natural | TechCrunch

Most apps that help you learn languages have features where you select options or swipe away wrong answer cards — you’re more or less interacting with a machine. Language-learning app Praktika is adopting a different approach: It lets you create personalized AI-powered avatars to replicate the experience of having a private tutor, leveraging inflections like tone of voice and emotions to help make learning a language feel more natural. Praktika claims to have 1.2 million active monthly users across 100 countries and said it generated revenue of almost $20 million in the last 12 months. To keep growing, the startup has now secured a $35.5 million Series A funding round led by Blossom Capital. The round follows a previously unannounced $2.5 million seed fundraise that was led by Creator Ventures and Blue Wire Capital. Praktika’s users interact with AI avatars who then “tailor” lessons for you and can speak with several accents, such as American, British, Asian, and Indian. The more the learner interacts with the avatar, the more tailored the lessons will become — at least that’s the idea. The company’s founding team, Adam Turaev (CEO), Anton Marin (CTO) and Ilya Chernyakov (CPO), previously built Cleverbots, an AI service business that counted companies like Coca-Cola, Kimberly-Clark, and AstraZeneca among its clients. #

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