Speak, founded in 2016 by Thiel Fellows Connor Zwick and Andrew Hsu, launched first in South Korea specifically, and the company states it has helped roughly three million Koreans, close to six percent of the country's population, learn English, becoming one of the country's top-downloaded education apps before expanding internationally.
That traction attracted direct investment from OpenAI's Startup Fund starting in 2022, and Speak uses OpenAI's Realtime API specifically to power its conversation engine, reaching a billion-dollar valuation after a further funding round in late 2024. The app has since expanded beyond English instruction to teach Spanish, French, Korean, Japanese, and Italian as well.
There's no free tier; pricing starts around $16 a month. For a learner who wants a language app with proven traction at genuinely national scale in at least one market, backed directly by OpenAI's own investment and technology, Speak's South Korea track record and direct OpenAI relationship are specific, verifiable credentials few competitors in this category can match.
