Yoodlean artificial intelligence communication training startup, has reached a valuation of more than $300 million — more than tripling its level six months ago — as it builds technology meant to help people rather than replace them with machines.
The valuation increase follows Yoodle’s $40 million Series B round led by WestBridge Capital with participation from Neotribe and Madrona. It comes after a $13.7 million Series A round announced in May, bringing the startup’s total funding to nearly $60 million.
As AI tools spread across workplaces and fuel fears of automation, Yoodle is positioned differently. The four-year-old Seattle-based startup uses artificial intelligence to run simulated scenarios — including sales calls, leadership coaching, interviews and feedback sessions — and provides users with structured, repetitive practice to improve their speaking skills.
Varun Puri (pictured above, right), who previously worked at Google’s X division and handled special projects for Sergey Brin, co-founded Yoodli with ex-Apple engineer Esha Joshi (pictured above, left) in 2021. He became aware of the communication challenges after moving to the US at 18 and seeing how hard it was to express confidence and self-assurance to male and female students. are included — Puri said in an interview.
Originally, Yoodli was meant to help people practice public speaking — a skill two out of three people struggle with, Puri told TechCrunch, citing internal data. However, the startup soon saw users turning to the platform for interview preparation, sales pitches and difficult conversations. This shift pushed Yoodli from a consumer-focused product to business education, and now offers AI role-playing and experiential learning tools for market activation, partner certification, and management coaching.
“In the old world, companies would train people using static long-form content or passive videos that we’d all watch at 4x-5x speed, just to get the thing done,” Puri said. “But that doesn’t actually mean you’ve learned it.”
Companies like Google, Snowflake, Databricks, RingCentral and Sandler Sales use Yoodli for employee or partner training. The startup also sells its platform to coaching firms like Franklin Covey and LHH, which can adapt the system to their own methodology and training frameworks, Puri said. He added that the tool is not designed to replace human coaches, but to keep a human in the loop by providing personalized guidance.
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“I think philosophically that AI can take you, let’s say zero to eight or zero to nine,” Puri said. “But the pure essence of who you are and how you appear, and your authenticity and vulnerability that a human being feeds back to you will always be there.”
The platform works with several major language models, meaning users can run it with models like Google’s Gemini or OpenAI’s GPT based on their preferences. Businesses can also integrate it into their existing software, or users can directly access it through a web browser. AI supports most major languages including Korean, Japanese, French, Canadian French and a list of Indian languages.
Yoodli doesn’t offer a dedicated mobile app, a decision Puri said was made to avoid adding extra steps for users during workouts.
Puri did not disclose how many people use the platform, but said most of Yoodli’s revenue now comes from enterprise customers. He added that between the Series A and B rounds, Yoodli saw a 50% increase in the number of role-playing games running on the platform and the total time users spent practicing. The startup also said it grew its average recurring revenue by 900% over the past 12 months, though it did not provide specifics.
Yoodli had not planned to raise more funding so soon after its last round, but it has seen unexpected investor interest, with WestBridge leading the latest increase, Puri said. He noted that strong performance metrics, key customers and senior employees helped attract investors. The startup recently hired former Tableau and Salesforce executive Josh Vitello as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), former Remitly CFO Andy Larson as CFO, and former Tableau Chief Product Officer (CPO) Padmashree Koneti as CPO.
Yoodli is not alone in the market for AI-based communication tools, but Puri told TechCrunch that the startup differentiates itself through deep customization and a focus on specific education disciplines, allowing companies to tailor the system to their use cases and coaching methods.
The Seattle-based startup has about 40 employees. Puri said the latest funding will be used to expand Yoodli’s AI coaching, analytics and personalization tools and to grow its presence in business learning and professional development. The company also plans to hire in product, AI research and customer success and expand into markets in the Asia Pacific region, while deepening its footprint in the US
