Bold claim: AI should augment people, not replace them, and Yoodli’s latest move proves it. Yoodli, an AI-powered communication training startup, now boasts a valuation exceeding $300 million—more than triple its value six months prior—following a $40 million Series B led by WestBridge Capital with participation from Neotribe and Madrona. This comes on the heels of a $13.7 million Series A in May, bringing total funding to nearly $60 million.
What makes Yoodli stand out is its human-centered approach in a marketplace buzzing with automation fears. The Seattle-based company, four years old, uses AI to run realistic practice scenarios—sales calls, leadership coaching, interviews, and feedback sessions—giving users structured, repeatable ways to improve speaking skills rather than simply replacing human input.
Co-founders Varun Puri, formerly of Google X and a participant in Sergey Brin’s special projects, and Esha Joshi, a former Apple engineer, started Yoodli in 2021 after Puri noticed communication challenges when moving to the United States at 18. He realized how difficulties in expressing ideas and speaking confidently hindered students and young professionals from countries like India, including himself.
Originally aimed at public speaking—an area two out of three people struggle with according to Puri and internal data—Yoodli quickly found buyers outside that scope. Users began leveraging the platform for interview prep, sales pitches, and tough conversations. This shift nudged Yoodli away from a consumer focus toward enterprise training, where it now offers AI role-plays and experiential learning tools for go-to-market enablement, partner certification, and management coaching.
Puri contrasts old training methods with Yoodli’s approach: static, long-form content or passive videos watched at 4x–5x speed don’t guarantee learning. Yoodli emphasizes active practice and feedback loops to ensure genuine skill acquisition.
Customers include Google, Snowflake, Databricks, RingCentral, and Sandler Sales. The platform is also sold to coaching firms such as Franklin Covey and LHH, which can tailor it to their methodologies. Importantly, Yoodli’s aim is to keep humans in the loop, delivering personalized guidance rather than sidelining coaches.
Echoing a nuanced stance on AI, Puri says AI can take a learner from a baseline to a higher performance level, but authentic presence, vulnerability, and personal expression—qualities a human provides—will always be essential. The platform supports multiple large language models—including Google Gemini and OpenAI-based options—and can be embedded into existing software or accessed via a web browser. It supports many languages, from Korean and Japanese to French (including Canadian French) and numerous Indian languages.
Notably, Yoodli does not offer a standalone mobile app, a strategic choice to minimize friction during training sessions. While exact user counts aren’t disclosed, Puri notes that enterprise revenue now accounts for most business, with a 50% jump in role-plays and total practice time between the Series A and B rounds. The company also reports a 900% increase in average recurring revenue over the past year, without sharing concrete numbers.
Although fresh funding came sooner than planned, strong performance metrics, flagship customers, and key hires drew investor interest. Yoodli has added high-profile leaders, including Josh Vitello (former Tableau/Salesforce) as Chief Revenue Officer, Andy Larson (former Remitly) as Chief Financial Officer, and Padmashree Koneti (former Tableau Chief Product Officer) as Chief Product Officer.
In a competitive landscape for AI-based communication tools, Yoodli differentiates itself through deep customization and targeted training verticals, enabling companies to tailor the system to their specific use cases and coaching frameworks.
The Seattle-based company, with roughly 40 employees, plans to deploy the new funds to expand AI coaching, analytics, and personalization, strengthen its enterprise-learning and professional-development footprint, and hire across product, AI research, and customer success. Expansion efforts include broader reach in the Asia-Pacific region while strengthening its presence in the United States.
